unprovoked 復習
ニューヨークで、道路脇に駐車していたパトカーに乗った警察官が歩行者に撃たれ死亡しました。
NYC officer shot, killed while sitting in police car
An on-duty New York City police officer was killed early Wednesday after a gunman walked up to her patrol vehicle and fired shots through the window, authorities said.
Officer Miosotis Familia, a 12-year veteran assigned to the New York City Police Department's 46th Precinct's Anti-Crime unit, was taken to a Bronx hospital where she was pronounced dead at 3:37 a.m. ET. She was 48 years old, according to police sources.
At a press conference Wednesday morning, New York City Police Department Commissioner James P. O'Neill said Familia had been shot in the head in an "unprovoked attack" while sitting with her partner in a marked police command vehicle on the corner of Morris Avenue and East 183 Street around 12:30 a.m. ET. O'Neill told reporters the vehicle had been parked there since March due to increased gang activity in the area.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/duty-ny-officer-shot-killed-unprovoked-attack/story?id=48444230
取り上げる単語は"unprovoked"です。文脈的に「予測できない」という意味だと予想しました。
『ジーニアス英和辞典』第4版(大修館)で調べてみると、「(攻撃、敵意などが)挑発によるものでない」とありました。否定を表す"un"を除いた"provoke"も辞書で見てみると、「(感情などを)起こさせる、引き起こす」や「怒らせる、じらす」などの意味があることが分かりました。今回の事件は、挑発的に行ったものではないということが述べられています。
LDOCEでは"unprovoked anger, attacks etc are directed at someone who has not done anything to deserve them"と定義されています。(Akim)
