- 1
To stop someone from doing what they are trying to do, especially by getting in their way on purpose. If police thwart a robbery, the robbery does not happen because the police blocked it.
To stop someone from doing what they are trying to do阻止某人做他們正在努力做的事, especially by getting in their way on purpose尤其是故意擋在他們的路上。If police thwart a robbery如果警方thwart了一起搶案, the robbery does not happen because the police blocked it搶案就沒有發生，因為警方擋下了它。
The word carries two extra ideas that plain 'stop' does not. First, there was a plan, and the plan was moving — you thwart an attempt, a plot, an ambition, an escape, not an accident. Second, the person is left : their effort has been wasted.
The word carries two extra ideas that plain 'stop' does not.這個字帶有兩個單純的stop沒有的額外意思。First第一, there was a plan, and the plan was moving曾經有一個計畫，而且那個計畫正在進行中 — you thwart an attempt, a plot, an ambition, an escape你thwart的是一次企圖、一個陰謀、一個野心、一次逃脫, not an accident而不是一場意外。Second第二, the person is left frustrated那個人會感到挫敗: their effort has been wasted他們的努力被白費了。
Because of this it is a favourite word of newspapers, where you constantly read 'police thwarted an attack' or 'the bill was thwarted in the senate'. It is formal, so in ordinary talk you would say 'we stopped them' or 'it didn't work out'.
Because of this it is a favourite word of newspapers正因為這樣，這個字是報紙的愛用詞, where you constantly read 'police thwarted an attack' or 'the bill was thwarted in the senate'你會不斷讀到「police thwarted an attack」或「the bill was thwarted in the senate」。It is formal這是個正式用字, so in ordinary talk you would say 'we stopped them' or 'it didn't work out'所以日常對話裡你會說「we stopped them」或「it didn't work out」。
It also has a common passive use with no villain at all: 'his plans were thwarted by the weather' — here nothing chose to block him, things just went wrong. Note that it is normally the plan or the person's aim that gets thwarted, and that you cannot thwart something that has already happened.
It also has a common passive use with no villain at all它也常常用在被動態、完全沒有壞人的情況裡: 'his plans were thwarted by the weather'「his plans were thwarted by the weather」 — here nothing chose to block him, things just went wrong這裡沒有誰選擇要擋他，只是事情不順而已。Note that it is normally the plan or the person's aim that gets thwarted要注意，被thwart的通常是計畫或某人的目標, and that you cannot thwart something that has already happened而且你不能thwart一件已經發生過的事。
組成From Old Norse þvert, meaning 'across, crosswise'. The picture is of lying across someone's path — putting yourself sideways in the way. English kept that image: to thwart is to cross someone. The same Norse root also gave us the noun 'thwart', the seat that lies across a rowing boat.
同家族的字
- athwartthe same root — a formal word meaning 'across', still used at sea
原始詞典資料12 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
thwartadj/θwɔːt/
- 1
Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
- Which elſe to ſeveral Sphears thou muſt aſcribe, / Mov'd contrarie with thwart obliquities, / Or ſave the Sun his labour, and that ſwift / Nocturnal and Diurnal rhomb ſuppos'd, / Inviſible elſe above all Starrs, the Wheele / Of Day and Night; […]
- 2
datedOf people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.
- […] harke Nature, heare deere Goddeſſe, ſuſpend thy purpoſe, if thou did'ſt intend to make this creature fruitful into her wombe, conuey ſterility, drie vp in hir the organs of increaſe, and from her derogate body neuer ſpring a babe to honour her, if ſhee muſt teeme, create her childe of ſpleene, that it may liue and bee a thourt diſuetur'd^([sic – meaning disnatured]) torment to her, […]
- […] and it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]
- 3
datedOf situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.
thwartadv/θwɔːt/
- 1
obsoleteAcross the direction of travel or length of; athwart, crosswise, obliquely, transversely.
- With adverſe blaſt up-turns them from the South / Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds / From Serraliona; thwart of theſe as fierce / Forth ruſh the Levant and the Ponent VVindes / Eurus and Zephir with their lateral noiſe, / Sirocco, and Libecchio.
thwartprep/θwɔːt/
- 1
archaicAcross, athwart.
thwartverb/θwɔːt/
- 1
To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.
- Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.
- The police thwarted the would-be assassin.
- 2
obsoleteTo place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise.
- 3
obsoleteTo hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.
- 4
obsoleteTo move (something) across or counter to; to cross.
- An arrow thwarts the air.
- Thither came Uriel, gliding through the Eeven / On a Sun beam, ſwift as a ſhooting Starr / In Autumn thwarts the night, […]
thwartnoun/θwɔːt/
- 1
nauticaltransportA seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.
- The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.
- When taking his seat in a boat, the learner should first observe that the thwart is firmly fixed, and that the mat upon it is securely tied to that part of it which is farthest from his rowlock.
- 2
nauticaltransportA brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (“breadth”) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.
- A well-made dugout canoe rarely needs a thwart.
- A conſiderable number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to which they were ſecurely laſhed on each ſide, as a ſtrengthening to the boat [a canoe].
- 3
rareAn act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。