记忆方法
cavil：cavity ill。从小洞里面找错误，鸡蛋里面挑骨头——挑毛病，吹毛求疵。
中文词源
cavil 吹毛求疵
来自PIE*kel, 欺骗，挑刺，词源同calumny, challenge.
英语词源
- cavil
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cavil: see challenge
- cavil (v.)
- 1540s, from Middle French caviller "to mock, jest," from Latin cavillari "to jeer, mock; satirize, argue scoffingly" (also source of Italian cavillare, Spanish cavilar), from cavilla "jest, jeering," related to calumnia (see calumny).
权威例句
- 1. Let us not cavil too much.
- 我们就别太挑剔了。
- 2. A carper will cavil at anything.
- 爱挑剔的人对什么都挑剔.
- 3. Even he could find nothing to cavil about.
- 连他都挑不出什么毛病来.
- 4. I don't think this is the time to cavil at the wording of the report.
- 我觉得现在还不是对报告的措辞较真的时候。
- 5. Most practitioners reject the idea of a " new science " and cavil even at the word futurology.
- 大多数实践者反对 “ 新科学 ” 的这一想法,甚至对未来学这个词吹毛求疵.