un-

/ʌn/

📖 中文释义

  1. pref. 不, 不会的, 无, 未, 非
  2. [医] 不
📘 English Definition(英文释义)
  1. An inseparable verbal prefix or particle. It is prefixed: (a) To
  2. verbs to express the contrary, and not the simple negative, of the
  3. action of the verb to which it is prefixed; as in uncoil, undo, unfold.
  4. (b) To nouns to form verbs expressing privation of the thing, quality,
  5. or state expressed by the noun, or separation from it; as in unchild,
  6. unsex. Sometimes particles and participial adjectives formed with this
  7. prefix coincide in form with compounds of the negative prefix un- (see
  8. 2d Un-); as in undone (from undo), meaning unfastened, ruined; and
  9. undone (from 2d un- and done) meaning not done, not finished. Un- is
  10. sometimes used with an intensive force merely; as in unloose.
  11. adv. An inseparable prefix, or particle, signifying not; in-;
  12. non-. In- is prefixed mostly to words of Latin origin, or else to words
  13. formed by Latin suffixes; un- is of much wider application, and is
  14. attached at will to almost any adjective, or participle used
  15. adjectively, or adverb, from which it may be desired to form a
  16. corresponding negative adjective or adverb, and is also, but less
  17. freely, prefixed to nouns. Un- sometimes has merely an intensive force;
  18. as in unmerciless, unremorseless.
  19. adv. Un- is prefixed to adjectives, or to words used adjectively.
  20. adv. To adjectives, to denote the absence of the quality
  21. designated by the adjective
  22. adv. To past particles, or to adjectives formed after the analogy
  23. of past particles, to indicate the absence of the condition or state
  24. expressed by them
  25. adv. To present particles which come from intransitive verbs, or
  26. are themselves employed as adjectives, to mark the absence of the
  27. activity, disposition, or condition implied by the participle; as, -
  28. ---- and the like.
  29. adv. Those which have acquired an opposed or contrary, instead of
  30. a merely negative, meaning; as, unfriendly, ungraceful, unpalatable,
  31. unquiet, and the like; or else an intensive sense more than a prefixed
  32. not would express; as, unending, unparalleled, undisciplined,
  33. undoubted, unsafe, and the like.
  34. adv. Those which have the value of independent words, inasmuch as
  35. the simple words are either not used at all, or are rarely, or at least
  36. much less frequently, used; as, unavoidable, unconscionable,
  37. undeniable, unspeakable, unprecedented, unruly, and the like; or
  38. inasmuch as they are used in a different sense from the usual meaning
  39. of the primitive, or especially in one of the significations of the
  40. latter; as, unaccountable, unalloyed, unbelieving, unpretending,
  41. unreserved, and the like; or inasmuch as they are so frequently and
  42. familiarly used that they are hardly felt to be of negative origin; as,
  43. uncertain, uneven, and the like.
  44. adv. Those which are anomalous, provincial, or, for some other
  45. reason, not desirable to be used, and are so indicated; as, unpure for
  46. impure, unsatisfaction for dissatisfaction, unexpressible for
  47. inexpressible, and the like.
  48. adv. Un- is prefixed to nouns to express the absence of, or the
  49. contrary of, that which the noun signifies; as, unbelief, unfaith,
  50. unhealth, unrest, untruth, and the like.