盤點：25個最常弄錯含義的單詞(雙語)

北京新浪網 (2014-09-14 13:45)

　　中外思維的差異使得我們在學習英語辭彙時容易產生錯誤理解，把中文背景帶到英文單詞中。不要緊，今天就跟著我們一起看看25大常錯詞，及時糾正錯誤觀念並牢牢記住吧！

　　1. Irony

　　What you think it means: Something that is funny。你認為單詞的含義是：滑稽的事。

　　What it really means: Contrary to what you are expecting。單詞的真正含義是：事與願違的。

　 　This is a famous one because so many people get this wrong so often. It’s also kind of hard to explain, so we’ll use an example. The Titanic was boasted about as being 100% unsinkable and then in 1912 it was sunk anyway. That is what is called cosmic irony. When a starving vegetarian eats a pepperoni pizza, that is what is called situational irony。這是一個典型的單詞，因為經常有人用錯。解釋起來可能有點困難，所以我們還是舉例說明吧。泰坦尼克號號稱100%不會沉沒，但1912年它還是意外沉沒了，這就叫“宇宙反諷”。要是某個餓得不行的素食者忍不住吃了塊香腸披薩，那就叫“情境反諷”。

　　There are other kinds too, such as dramatic irony and Socratic irony. Believe it or not, sarcasm

　 　is actually irony. When you say something sarcastically, your tone and your words mean two opposite things. That is ironic. Irony can be funny but not everything funny is irony。當然還有其他分類，比如“喜劇式反諷”和“蘇格拉底式反諷”。不管你信不信，irony其實和sarcasm(諷刺)是一個意思。當說到某件 事很諷刺時，你的語調和用詞意在表達完全相反的兩種情況。這就是ironic(反諷)。反諷可以是滑稽的，但並不是所有滑稽的事都可以稱得上“反諷”。

　　2. Travesty

　　What you think it means: A tragedy or something unfortunate。你認為單詞的含義是：悲劇或不幸的事。

　　What it really means: A mockery or parody。單詞的真正含義是：拙劣的模仿或惡搞。

　 　This is another one that people have wrong fairly frequently. You’ve heard people call 9/11 a travesty. Truth be told 9/11 was a tragedy. A travesty is actually a mockery or a parody. One might say that a Weird Al Yankovic album is a travesty. With how often this word is associated with tragedy, we wouldn’t be shocked if that definition were eventually added as an acceptable meaning. Until then, it doesn’t mean anything bad happened。

　　這也是人們經常用錯的一個單詞。有人把9.11事件說成travesty，其實他是想說是個tragedy(悲劇)。Travesty其實是指拙劣的模仿或惡搞。你可以說艾爾•揚科維奇的專輯是travesty(惡搞的)。鑒於travesty這個單詞總是被人們 和tragedy(悲劇)搞混淆，或許以後travesty裡面也能加入“悲劇”的含義吧。不過到目前為止，這個單詞跟“不好的事情”完全扯不上關係。

　　3. Ultimate

　　What you think it means: The one, the only. The best。你認為單詞的含義是：某個，唯一的，最好的。

　　What it really means: The last item of a list。單詞的真正含義是：列表中的最後一項。

　 　Some people do actually use this one properly. You may see someone list off a bunch of things and hear them say, “Okay, at the store we need eggs, milk, juice, and ultimately, butter。” That is actually the proper use of ultimate. There is no other context or added context. It simply means the last one。確實也有人能夠正確使用這個單詞。你或許看到過別人寫出一串列單，然後聽到他們說：“嗯……我們要去商店買點雞蛋、牛奶、果汁，最後 (ultimately)還有黃油。”這才是ultimate的正確使用方法。這裡不存在其他內容或補充內容，ultimate就表示“最後一個”。

　　4. Conversate

　　What you think it means: To have a conversation。你認為單詞的含義是：進行交談。

　　What it really means: Nothing。單詞的真正含義是：壓根沒有這個詞。

　 　Conversate actually doesn’t exist and I’ll prove it to you. Go into a program that underlines words with red if they’re spelled wrong. Now type out conversate. Did you see the red line? Conversate was meant to be a mixture of conversation and converse and be used as a verb. However, converse is a verb and there really isn’t a need for a second verb to describe the same action.Conversate這個單詞其實是不存在的，這我可以證明。找個能標紅錯誤拼寫的程式，然後輸入conversate這個單詞，你應該能 看到這個單詞被標了紅色下劃線吧？conversate應該是conversation(交談)和converse(交談)的混合詞，詞性是動詞。可 是，converse(交談)本身就是動詞，根本就沒必要再造一個動詞來描述同一個行為了。

　　5. Peruse

　　What you think it means: To skim or browse。你認為單詞的含義是：略讀或瀏覽。

　　What it really means: To observe in depth。單詞的真正含義是：深入觀察。

　 　When you peruse something, you are actually taking a very close look at it. When you’re at a record store and you’re just running through a stack

　　of records, you are just browsing. If you pick up a record and look at the artist, track list, and additional information on the back, then your are perusing。當你peruse(深入觀察)某事物時，說明你看得非常仔細。假設你在唱片店穿過一排排的唱片架，那就是“瀏覽”。如果你拿起一張唱片查看背後的藝術家、目錄和其他信息，那就叫peruse(深入觀察)了。

　　6. Bemused

　　What you think it means: Amused。你認為單詞的含義是：愉快的。

　　What it really means: Confused。單詞的真正含義是：困惑的。

　 　This is one of the many words on this list that will make you strongly dislike the English language. Despite looking all but identical to the word amused, bemused doesn’t even come close to meaning the same thing. If you are bemused then you are actually confused。這個單詞可能本清單中“榮膺”讓你討厭英語的原因之一。儘管bemused(困惑的)在拼寫上跟amused(愉快的)很相似，但這兩 個單詞的含義卻並不一樣。如果你bemused，說明你其實很困惑。

　　7. Compelled

　　What you think it means: To do something voluntarily by choice。你認為單詞的含義是：志願選擇做某事。

　　What it really means: To be forced or obligated to doing something。單詞的真正含義是：被迫或有義務做某事。

　 　This is one that people get wrong and it’s rather understandable. The real definition is very close to the definition people generally use. The difference is the motivation. When people say compelled, they think the person wants to perform the action. In fact, they are forced to do it regardless of their personal feelings. Here’s an example. When you’re in court, you are compelled to give honest testimony. You may not want to, but it doesn’t matter because you have to。這個單詞被人們搞錯其實倒也情有可原。它的真實定義和人們通常誤用的含義很接近，但區別就在於動機如何。當說到compelled(被迫)時，人們 以為說話者想做某事，但實際上，說話者是有違自身情緒而被迫去做某事的。舉個例子，在出庭時，你就是compelled(被迫)如實作證的，你可能心裡不 情願，但不管怎樣你只能這麼做。

　　8. Nauseous

　　What you think it means: To feel ill。你認為單詞的含義是：感覺不舒服。

　　What it really means: To cause feelings of illness。單詞的真正含義是：令人不舒服的。

　　This is another understandable mishap

　 　that a lot of people make. If you actually feel sick then you are nauseated. The object that made you feel ill is nauseous. Here’s how this works. If you’re at an amusement park and you’re sitting next to a full trash can, the fumes from the trash may make you feel ill. That means the fumes from the trash can are nauseous because they are making you feel nauseated。許多人用錯這個單詞也是情有可原的。如果你果真感到不舒服，那麼你會nauseated(作嘔)，讓你感到不舒服的東西是 nauseous(作嘔的)。請看下面的例子。假設你坐在遊樂園一個滿滿的垃圾桶旁邊，垃圾桶裡冒出的煙霧讓你感到不舒服。這就是說，垃圾桶裡冒出的煙霧 是nauseous(令人作嘔的)，因為它讓你感到nauseated(作嘔)。

　　9. Redundant

　　What you think it means: Repetitive。你認為單詞的含義是：重覆的。

　　What it really means: Unnecessarily excessive。單詞的真正含義是：過剩的。

　 　This one is tough because you can use it wrong but unintentionally use it right. When you repeat something a bunch of times, it can become redundant, but redundant expands far beyond just repeating things over and over. A popular thing companies are doing now is firing people but instead of calling it “getting fired,” they call it “eliminating redundancies。” The premise being that the employee they’re firing is unnecessary and excessive and they are thus eliminating them. In pretty much any scenario where there is simply too much of something, it is redundant。這個單詞有點複雜，因為你可能總會用錯，卻也不一定什麼時候就用對了。當你不斷重覆某事很多次後，事情可能就會變得 redundant(多餘的)，但是redundant這個詞所包含的意思遠不止“不斷重覆”。當下公司都很流行解聘雇員，但他們不會說“炒你魷魚”，而 是稱之為“裁員”；但前提是，被裁的員工是可有可無的、多餘的，這樣就可以裁掉了。在很多情況下，如果某事太多太剩，那就是redundant(多餘的)了。

　　10. Enormity

　　What you think it means: Huge, enormous。你認為單詞的含義是：巨大的，龐大的。

　　What it really means: Profoundly immoral or evil。單詞的真正含義是：極其不道德的或邪惡的。

　 　Don’t beat yourself up over this one because no one knows this one off the top of their head. Enormity sounds like enormous and as with many of our other examples, here we expect words that sound alike to have similar meanings. Enormity simply means really evil. An example of how to use it is the following: “The enormity of the crimes committed by the Nazis in World War II。” It doesn’t mean the enormous crimes, it means the heinous crimes。不要因為用錯這個單詞而自責， 因為沒多少人能不假思索地知道這個單詞。Enormity(窮凶惡極)的發音和enormous(龐大的)比較相近，正如先前提過的許多例子一樣，對於發音相似的單詞，人們也很容易認為它們的意思也一樣。Enormity是指“極其邪惡”。舉個例子來說明如何使用這個單詞吧。“納粹分子在二戰中犯下的罪行 是enormity(窮凶惡極的)。”它不是說enormous(龐大的)罪行，而是指十惡不赦的罪行。

　　11. Terrific

　　What you think it means: Fantastic, good。你認為單詞的含義是：妙極了，極好的。

　　What it really means: Horrific, to inspire fear。單詞的真正含義是：可怖的，令人害怕的。

　 　This is another one that we expect will be changed in the dictionary eventually because barely anyone uses the real meaning anymore. When people say they feel terrific, they mean to say they feel fantastic. An example of something terrific is King Kong. You see a giant monster and it inspires fear. We’re going to loop awesome in with this one too. Awesome simply means to inspire awe and people often use it to describe something really good。我們認為這個單詞的含義以後也會在詞典里重新修訂，因為現在幾乎沒有人會去使用它的真正含義。當人們說感覺terrific(恐怖的)時，他們是指感覺fantastic(好極了)。《金剛》就是典型的terrific(可怖的)例子，因為它是巨怪，讓人感到恐懼。在此順便說說awesome這 個單詞吧。Awesome是指“讓人感到驚懼”，但現在人們用這個詞的時候主要是指“某事好極了”。

　　12. Effect

　　What you may think it means: To cause something to change。你以為單詞的含義是：引起某事發生變化。

　　What it really means: An event that causes a change。單詞的真正含義是：引起變化事件。

　　A lot of people staunchly

　 　defend the wrong definition of this and it’s understandable. When action A causes a change in object B, action A affected object B and object B has been affected. Effect is an event that causes a change. In our prior example, action A is, in and of itself, an effect because it affects things. It’s admittedly confusing to explain but easy to remember. If it’s a noun, it’s an effect. If it’s a verb, it’s an affect。很多人是錯誤用法的擁躉者，這是可以理解的。當行動A導致事物B發生變化，行動A影響了事物B，因此，事物B受到了影響。Effect其實 是指引起變化的事件。在先前的例子中，行動A本身就是個effect(事件)，因為它影響了事物。不得不說，這麼解釋起來很容易引起困惑，不過記起來卻不難。如果是名詞，那就是effect(事件)；如果是動詞，那就是affect(影響)。

　　13. Disinterested

　　What you think it means: Bored。你以為單詞的含義是：無趣的。

　　What it really means: Neutral。單詞的真正含義是：中立的。

　 　A good way to remember this one is that there is a word that means bored and it’s uninterested. If you’re uninterested, you’re bored. Being disinterested is the long-form equivalent of stating that you don’t care about something。要記住這個單詞，有個辦法就是別忘了已經有一個單詞表示“無趣的”——這個單詞就是uninterested。如果你 uninterested(不感興趣)，那自然就“無趣”了。Disinterested是表示“對某事不關心”的一個單詞。

　　14. Irregardless

　　What you think it means: Without regard。你以為單詞的含義是：不管怎樣。What it really means: Nothing。單詞的真正含義是：它也是不存在的。

　 　Like conversate above, irregardless isn’t actually a word. When people say irregardless, they actually mean to say regardless. Regardless means without regard. Irregardless has been used so often that it actually is in the dictionary now and that’s kind of sad. Even though it is technically there, there are a large number of people who don’t consider it a word. You can save yourself a couple of keystrokes and a tongue lashing by just using regardless。跟前面的conversate一樣，irregardless這個單詞其實也不存在。當人們說irregardless時，其實是 想說regardless。Regardless是指“不管怎樣”。Irregardless一直被頻繁使用，所以現在確實也納入了詞典，這可真無奈啊！ 不過，儘管它在字典里占有一席，但很多人並不覺得它是個單詞。既然用regardless就行了，何必還要多敲幾下鍵盤、多發一個音符來費事呢？

　　15. Chronic

　　What you think it means: Severe。你以為單詞的含義是：劇烈的。What it really means: Over the course of a long time。單詞的真正含義是：歷時長久的。

　 　This is definitely one that people ought to know better. When you have severe pain, it is just severe pain. If you have chronic pain, you have been in pain for a long, long time. Chronic conditions and diseases are called chronic because they won’t go away and not because they’re overly severe。人們絕對需要好好瞭解這個單詞的含義。假設你受到劇烈疼痛，那它只是劇烈疼痛而已。如果你有chronic(慢性的)疼痛，那你可得很久很久地承受這疼痛了。慢性狀況和疾病之所以是chronic(慢性的)，是因為它們不會消退，而不是說它們極其嚴重。

　　16. i.e。

　　What you think it means: For example。你以為單詞的含義是：比如。What it really means: In other words。單詞的真正含義是：換句話說。

　 　This is one among a number of shortened words that confuse people. Here’s a quick guide on how to use them. Et cetera is etc., example is ex. or e.g., and in other words is i.e. When you use i.e. you’re essentially putting it there to let people know that you’re going to be stating the same information in different words. Here’s how it really works. It’s June and I moved into my new apartment in April, i.e., two months ago。這是一個容易給人造成困惑的縮略詞，下面就簡潔地告訴大家如何使用它。Et cetera(以此類推)的縮略詞是etc.，example(比如)的縮略詞是ex。或e.g.，而in other words(換句話說)的縮略詞是i.e.。如果你使用i.e.，就表示你在換用不同的詞來表述同一個信息。下麵就是具體用法：現在是六月，我是四月份搬 進新公寓的，i.e。(換句話說)，兩個月前。

　　17. Decimate

　　What you think it means: To destroy or annihilate你以為單詞的含義是：毀壞或擊敗。What it really means: To destroy ten percent。單詞的真正含義是：10%毀壞。

　 　This one is really goofy and one day this won’t be true. For the time being, decimate actually means removing only ten percent of something. If you know a little bit about words it’s not difficult to figure out. The prefix “dec” means ten. However, the traditional definition of this word is antiquated and it’ll probably be changed eventually. Until then, it’s technically correct to use a word like exterminate or annihilate instead。這個單詞有點彆扭，或許以後就沒人用了。不過現在而言，decimate是指“只抽取某事物的10%”。如果你稍微瞭解一點英語構詞法的 話，這就不難理解了。它的首碼“dec”就是“十”的意思。不過，這個單詞的傳統定義比較古舊，估計以後會有所改變。但在那之前，最好還是使用 exterminate(鏟除)或annihilate(殲滅)替代吧。

　　18. Panacea

　　What you think it means: A cure。你以為單詞的含義是：治愈。What it really means: A cure for a lot of things。單詞的真正含義是：萬靈藥。

　 　This one is easy to confuse because the explanation is virtually the same even if the definitions are vastly different. A panacea is something that cures a lot of things all at once. For instance, penicillin is a panacea. It cures a bunch of diseases. The flu vaccine is not a panacea because it only protects against the flu。這個單詞很容易混淆，因為即便定義迥異，解釋起來實質還是一樣的。Panacea(萬靈藥)能立刻治愈各種疾病。比如說，盤尼西林就是 panacea(萬靈藥)，它能治療很多疾病；而流感疫苗就不是panacea(萬靈藥)，因為它只預防流感。

　　19. Fortuitous

　　What you think it means: Lucky。你以為單詞的含義是：幸運的。What it really means: By chance。單詞的真正含義是：偶然碰巧。

　 　There is a difference between luck and chance. Unfortunately, people use the two interchangeably, so much so that it’s difficult to explain the differences anymore. Lucky is an event that happens by chance that can be described as fortunate. Winning the lottery is lucky. Fortuitous means simply by chance. For instance if you drop your basketball and it bounces

　　into the road and gets hit by a car, that’s a fortuitous instance. It’s neutral, so it can be good or bad things that happen by chance。運氣和機會是有區別的。可是人們總把它們交互使用，所以很難再去解釋其中的區別了。運氣是偶然發生的一件事，可以視為“幸運的”。中彩票是幸運的。Fortuitous是指“純屬偶然”。舉個例子，假設你沒拿住籃球，結果籃球彈到路上擊中了一輛車，這就是fortuitous(純屬偶然)。 這個單詞是中性的，既可以指偶然發生的好事，也可以指偶然發生的壞事。

　　20. Plethora

　　What you think it means: A lot of something。你以為單詞的含義是：很多事物。What it really means: More than is needed。單詞的真正含義是：多餘。

　 　This is one I use incorrectly all the time. In fact, I almost used it a couple of times in this very article. Plethora simply means that there is more of something than is needed. For instance, you may think that 5,000 people is a plethora of people. However, when you put them into a hockey arena that seats 13,000 people, it’s actually less than half capacity and therefore not a plethora. If you had 13,500 people in that same arena, that would be a plethora of people。這個單詞是我總用錯的。其實，這篇文章裡可能也有幾次相關的錯誤。Plethora是指“再也不需要什麼了”。比如，你可能覺得5000人是很多人，但是，如果你把這些人放到能容納13000人 的冰球場，那麼人數還不到容量的一半，所以就不能算plethora(多餘)；如果你把13500人放到那個冰球場，那就是plethora(多餘)的 了。

　　21. Total

　　Total means exactly what you think it means but total is used unnecessarily on a frequent basis. When there is a total of 50 people who do something, the total is 50 whether or not you use the word “total。” Or you might hear someone say that they were totally surprised. Surprise is not a conditional emotion. You were either surprised or not. The use of total didn’t add anything of value to the sentence. In most cases, the definition is correct but using the word is repetitive when put in context with the rest of the sentence.Total的含義和你認為的完全一樣，但是，total總是被不必要地使用。假設總共有50個人在幹活，那麼不管你有沒有用total 這個詞，total(總數)肯定就是50。或許你聽人說過他們totally(完全)被嚇到了。“嚇到”並不是一種條件性情緒，你要麼被嚇到，要麼沒有。句中添加一個total根本起不到任何意義。在多數情況下，這個單詞的定義是正確的；但是，如果把單詞放到字裡行間就顯得重覆了。

　　22. Literally

　　What you think it means: Figuratively。你以為單詞的含義是：象徵地。What it really means: Actually。單詞的真正含義是：確切地。

　 　This is something that has come about relatively recently and my generation may have helped propagate this one. Literally means actually. When something is literally true, it is actually true. If I haven’t seen my friend in literally five years then I actually haven’t seen them in five years. People use literally along with hyperbole

　　to show an emotion: “I haven’t had Chinese food in literally a million years。” This is meant to denote that the person hasn’t had Chinese food in a while. The word those people actually want is figuratively. They figuratively haven’t had Chinese food in a million years. They probably literally hadn’t had it in a few days or weeks。這個單詞是近些年才流行起來的，我這一代人或許起到過推波助瀾的作用。Literally的意思是“確切地”。如果某事 literally(確切)屬實，那它就確實是真的。如果我literally(確切)有5年沒見過朋友了，那就是說我的確5年都沒見過他們。為了表達情感，人們會誇張地使用這個單詞：“我literally(確切)有一百萬年沒吃中國菜了！”這是指那個人有一段時間沒吃中國菜了。這些人其實是想用 figuratively(象徵地)這個單詞，表示他們figuratively(仿佛)有一百萬年沒吃中國菜了。他們可能literally(確切)只 有幾天或幾個星期沒吃中國菜罷了。

　　23. Can

　　What you think it means: What is permissible。你以為單詞的含義是：可行的。What it really means: What is possible。單詞的真正含義是：可能的。

　　This is one you have to nip

　 　in the bud in childhood because it’s much harder to correct in adulthood. When you can do something, you have capacity within you to perform that action regardless of whether or not you actually do it. I can bang my head into my desk but I absolutely will not do it. When people use can incorrectly it is because they mean to use the word “may。” When you ask someone if they can open the door, you did not ask them to open the door. You asked them if they were capable of opening the door. If you wish for them to perform the task, you should ask if they will open the door. When you ask if you can have something, you’re not asking someone to give it to you. You’re asking if you have the capacity to own it. If you need something, ask if you may have it。這個單詞的使用必須在兒童時就開始註意，一旦用錯，成年以後就很難糾正了。當你can(可以)做某事時，即意味著不管實際行動與否，你自身都有能力 去採取那個行動。我can(可以)把頭撞到桌上，但我絕對不會這麼去做。有時人們錯用can這個單詞，是因為他們本想表達may(可能)。當你問別人是否 can(可能)開門時，你其實並沒有要求對方一定得開門，只是在詢問對方能不能開門；要是你希望對方開門，你就會直接問“是否開門”了。當你問對方是否 can(可能)有某事物，你其實並沒有要求對方把它給你，你只是在問對方有沒有擁有那個東西的可能性。如果你需要某物，你會直接問“是否可以擁有它”。

　　24. Defective

　 　What you think it means: That something is broken or missing pieces。你以為單詞的含義是：某物碎了或缺了部分。What it really means: Simply that it’s broken。單詞的真正含義是：某物壞了。

　　You’ll see this one a lot in Amazon reviews. People will say that their unit came defective because it was missing a screw

　 　or pieces in the box. That’s actually incorrect. What they mean to say is that their product is deficient. It’s missing pieces, it is not actually broken. The machine may work perfectly fine once the missing pieces have been re-added, which means that it actually isn’t defective at all。你會在亞馬遜網評上看到很多人用這個單詞。人們會說網購的產品是defective(壞的)，因為盒子裡缺少某個螺絲釘或部件。其實這種用法是不對的。人們本想說產品是deficient(缺陷的)，產品只是缺少部件，而不是壞了，如果裝上缺少的部件，或許機器就能正常運轉了，所以，產品根本就不是defective(壞的)。

　　25. Obsolete

　　What you think it means: Old, out of date。你以為單詞的含義是：舊的，過時的。What it really means: Not produced, used, or needed。單詞的真正含義是：未生產的，未使用的，不需要的。

　　You’ll see this one in the tech industry a lot. People in tech article comments will comment that a phone is obsolete when they really mean that it’s out of date. The literal definition of obsolete is an item that it isn’t produced, needed, or used anymore. An example of this is is the steam engine. It’s largely inefficient compared to today’s combustion engine and even more inefficient than the emerging electric engines. Thus, steam engines are not used, produced, or needed anymore. Yes, they are also old and out of date, but obsolete is kind of the next step after old and out of date。這個單詞在科技行業經常出現。在科技文章評論中， 人們會說某個電話機obsolete(未使用的)，其實他們是想說電話機過時了。Obsolete的字面定義是指某物未被生產、不被需要或不再使用。一個例子就是蒸汽機。跟如今的內燃機相比，蒸汽機相當不給力，甚至都比不上新興的電發動機；因此，蒸汽機是不被使用的、不被生產的或不再被需要的。沒錯，蒸汽機也是舊的、過時的，但obsolete是“舊”與“過時”更後一步的階段了。

　　Wrap up總結

　　The English language is a finicky one but it’s also ever changing. Words are updated and definitions change. New words are added every year and some are retired. Very few people will ever master the entire language and the rest of us will just have to do the best we can!英語是一門講究的語言，並且一直在演變。單詞在更新，定義在修改。每年都有舊詞廢除新詞增補。很少有人能把整個英語語言吃透弄懂，那我們這些芸芸大眾只要盡力掌握就可以啦！