Hot Words No.53

Abeyance

発音：

[əbéiəns]

意味：

制御された又は不使用の状態

A state of restraint or disuse

例文1：

He kept his temper in abeyance while he listened to his staff member’s words of apology.

例文2：

She was so satisfied that her habitual melancholy was in abeyance.

例文3：

That expression has fallen into abeyance.

Buck

発音：

[bʌ́k]

意味：

無視する、対抗する

To defy or oppose

例文1：

The venture capital bucked the trend and scored a big success.

例文2：

The mayor bucked the central government on local taxation policy.

Deficit

発音：

[défəsit]

意味：

必要量に満たない不足分

The gap between what you need and what you actually have

例文1：

Intelligence deficit is leaving the surrounding nations guessing about the regime’s next step.

例文2：

Our society has a deplorable deficit in kindness.

Excoriate

発音：

[ikskɔ́ːrièit]

意味：

強く批判する

To harshly criticize

例文1：

The president excoriated the regime for its human rights violations.

例文2：

My new book received an excoriating review in the New York Times.

Float

発音：

[flóut]

意味：

アイデアやプランを提案する

To present or suggest an idea or a plan

例文1：

I first floated the idea to the client two months ago but they rejected it out of hand.

例文2：

The departing CEO floated a counterproposal over new board members to be selected.

Hark back to

発音：

[hάːrk bǽk tə]

意味：

過去の何か又は人物に似る、過去の出来事を回想する

To be similar to something or someone from the past; to reminisce something from the past

例文1：

The new leader is trying to hark back to the previous president.

例文2：

This film harks back to rural life in the late 19th century.

例文3：

Instead of starting a new life, she keeps harking back to her previous marriage.

Lambast

発音：

[læmbǽst]

意味：

強く叱責する

To severely criticize

例文1：

The opposition party lambasted the prime minister’s new tax proposal.

例文2：

The nation lambasted the credit ratings agency over its sovereign-debt downgrade.

Mettle

発音：

[métl]

意味：

試練の時に発揮する底力、根性、勇気

Strength or determination, particularly exhibited during an ordeal or under pressure

例文1：

The long and heated question & answer session following the lecture really tested my mettle as a lecturer.

例文2：

The leader showed her mettle during the unprecedented financial crisis.

例文3：

I am proud of my own mettle.