unblemished 復習
Throughout his life, Donald Trump’s two greatest assets have been his mental stability and being, like, really smart. We all know that because he told us three months ago. …
The Fox News interview was clearly the work of an evil genius determined to undermine the otherwise unblemished first year of the Trump presidency. Was it a coincidence that it happened just a few minutes after Trump’s nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary pulled out amid a firestorm of allegations about passing out drunk, over-prescribing opioids, wrecking cars and harassing women? (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、unblemished /ʌnblémɪʃt/ です。この語は un- + blemished という構成であると推測できます。意味等の見当がつかなかったので、以下で確認していきます。
まず意味を Cambridge Dictionary でみると、“An unblemished reputation, character, etc. has no faults and is not spoiled in any way” とあり、OED には “If you describe something such as someone's record, reputation, or character as unblemished, you mean it has not been harmed or spoiled” と定義されています。
次に語源を ONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY をみると、“c. 1300, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of blemish (v.). Originally in moral sense; material sense is attested from mid-15c.” とあります。
以上のことから、unblemished は評判などに「傷が付いていない」という意味であることがわかりました。(OkaUchi)
