| 释义 |
Definition of vain in English: vainadjective veɪnveɪn 1Having or showing an excessively high opinion of one's appearance, abilities, or worth. 自负的，自视过高的，爱虚荣的 their flattery made him vain 他们的吹捧使他自命不凡。 a vain woman with a streak of snobbery Example sentencesExamples - Looking back now I can really see I was a very vain person.
- And don't be too vain to ask for help along the way.
- She hated herself for being so vain and conceited.
- When you're young you just cannot imagine a universe without yourself because you are so vain.
- Not to sound vain, but I looked really hot.
- He was so vain, he would change his clothes three times a day.
- Unlike a lot of more vain, self-regarding actors, she finds it impossible to conceal her vulnerability.
- She was the most arrogant, vain, self centred person I'd ever met.
- They all agree he is arrogant and selfish and vain.
- This archbishop has, in my opinion, been a vain and self-aggrandising man throughout.
- Actually, I'm not being quite as vain as it may seem.
- Elizabeth, vain and proud about her legendary beauty, was convinced she'd found the secret of youth.
- He was vain, egotistical, boorish and gloriously insensitive.
- A man should be clean and confident in his appearance, but not vain or pretentious.
- Few people can stand constant praise without becoming vain and self-centered.
- Possessive, vain and self-absorbed, she stifled him until, he said, he could no longer stand women.
- And she was vain, always very concerned about her appearance.
- Aside from being a known womanizer, he was known to be a very vain and arrogant man.
- She's a shallow, vain, self-centered woman who is going to crash and burn at a very early age.
- He didn't look like he was bothered by all the attention, but he wasn't vain or self-centered either.
Synonyms conceited, narcissistic, self-loving, in love with oneself, self-admiring, self-regarding, wrapped up in oneself, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, self-centred, egotistic, egotistical, egoistic, egocentric, egomaniac proud, haughty, arrogant, boastful, swaggering, imperious, overweening, cocky, affected literary vainglorious rare peacockish (be vain), have an excessively high opinion of oneself, think too highly of oneself, think a lot of oneself informal think one is the cat's whiskers/pyjamas, think one is God's gift (to women) 2attributive Producing no result; useless. 无结果的，无效的 a vain attempt to tidy up the room 徒劳的整理房间。 the vain hope of finding work 找到工作的落空希望。 Example sentencesExamples - There is irritating piped music, a vain attempt to drown out the background wind-pocket moan of the ventilation/heating system and generate some atmosphere perhaps.
- We took to channel hopping in the vain hope that something remotely interesting would catch our attention.
- As I stood outside the store, battered by the merciless, penetrating wind, I was reminded of days when I'd wear two pairs of pyjamas under my uniform in a vain attempt to keep warm.
- The scream carried a vain hope that someone would do something to intervene.
- The way he's overcome adversity has been a real inspiration - and in a vain attempt to copy him I'm following his training programme as I prepare for my first duathlon.
- She secretly changed her name three years after being jailed for life, in the vain hope that she would be able to begin a new life outside prison.
- From what I could gather, he was being sent around to cold-call upon the local residents in a vain attempt to convert them to the service of his electricity utility provider.
- Deregulation has meant that for once anyone waiting for a cab during the Christmas period will not have to spend a bone-rattling hour or so in the vain hope a taxi will come by.
- The interviewer, in a vain attempt to give St Clair another opportunity to repair the damage done by his earlier answer, rephrased the question.
- I like to support movies like this in the perhaps vain hope that they will do well and the studios will make more of them.
- So this afternoon will see me making another disconsolate tour of the shops, in the vain hope of finding a pair of shoes that is both elegant and comfortable.
- Many of us seem to entertain the vain hope that ignorance will confer innocence, that by denying the consequences of our complicity, it will be as if it never happened.
- They fought off their own hidden preferences and opinions in a vain struggle to be identical with everyone else; to ‘fit’.
- He was yelling and crying, reaching out desperately and uselessly past the restraining arms in a vain attempt to bring his friend back.
- A surfer who braved 20 ft waves in a vain attempt to help rescue a mother and her children from seas off Scarborough said yesterday there was no safety equipment in the area.
- A couple of Italian wine bottles and maps of the Old Country had been scattered over the walls in a vain attempt to give the place, formerly a steak restaurant, a Mediterranean feel.
- The game has always been controlled by wealthy people, often successful local businessmen who fritter away their fortunes on the vain hope of glory for their team.
- I walked up and down Tottenhan Court Road with Mark at lunchtime in a vain attempt to stave off unconsciousness.
- I took several deep breaths in a very vain attempt to calm myself.
- Many even stayed in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of their idol.
Synonyms futile, useless, pointless, worthless, nugatory, to no purpose, in vain - 2.1 Having no likelihood of fulfilment; empty.
徒劳的，无意义的 徒劳的自夸。 Example sentencesExamples - It's not a vain boast on the evidence of this season.
- By and large I'm all for the right to speak your mind and give your opinion as long as it's of worth and not just some vain criticism thrown out for the sake of it.
- This turn of events, this sad return after so many vain boasts, would have made a shamed recluse out of a normal human being.
Synonyms futile, useless, pointless, to no purpose, worthless, nugatory
PhrasesWithout success or a result. 徒劳地 they waited in vain for a response 他们白等回音。 Example sentencesExamples - The couple suffered severe burns as they battled in vain to rescue their boys from the blaze.
- She was one of hundreds of customers who were trying in vain to benefit from a giveaway deal.
- "He tried in vain to resuscitate them but it was too late, " he said.
- The crowds waited in vain for an encore, not quite believing it was time to go home already.
- The parish council has tried in vain to persuade another building society to open a branch in Pewsey.
- My constituents needed to know that the loss of life had not been in vain.
- Imagine you tell her to come straight home, then you wait in vain for the sound of her key in the door.
- Staff at the prison had tried in vain to resuscitate him in his cell.
- Previous efforts by the council to retain industrial use on other key sites in the city have been in vain.
- My hands felt slippery, and I tried in vain to calm my nerves.
Synonyms futile, useless, pointless, worthless, nugatory, to no purpose unsuccessfully, vainly, without success, to no avail, to no purpose, ineffectually, with no result, fruitlessly, profitlessly, unproductively futile, useless, pointless, to no purpose, worthless, nugatory
take someone's name in vain Use someone's name in a way that shows a lack of respect. 滥用某人的名义；轻慢谈到某人的名字 Example sentencesExamples - No-one these days can take Odin's name in vain, and, if swearing is any guide, perhaps the Christian panoply of sacred beings is going the same way as Thor and Odin.
- For every Broons there's been a Magoons (Meet the Magoons was the short-lived Caledonian curry-house sitcom that was actually pretty good, but I'm taking its name in vain because I need a rhyme).
- ‘Someone taking my name in vain?‘said Caroline.
- They knew the third commandment: ‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.’
- Meanwhile a so-called rival diarist has been taking her name in vain, referring sneeringly to her brief career as an author of bodice rippers.
Derivativesnoun ˈveɪnnɪs The tone of this poem is in one sense highly conventional: the rose becomes a symbol of the vainness of femininity. Example sentencesExamples - I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood.
- He thinks he was born for women, though I must say his vainness is highly amusing.
- Drive it out and along with it any taints of vainness, distrust, hatred or other such clouds shadowing your life.
- The fact that people have come to realize the vainness of hoping for assistance from ‘benevolent’ rulers gives some grounds for optimism.
OriginMiddle English (in the sense 'devoid of real worth'): via Old French from Latin vanus 'empty, without substance'. vanity from Middle English: In early use vanity meant ‘futility, worthlessness’, with the idea of being conceited recorded a century later. This is the quality condemned in ‘Vanity of vanities; all is vanity’ from the biblical book of Ecclesiastes. The source of the word is Latin vanus ‘empty, without substance’, also the source of vain (Middle English) and vanish (Middle English). In The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, published in 1678, Vanity Fair is held in the town of Vanity, through which pilgrims pass on their way to the Eternal City. All kinds of ‘vanity’, things of no real value, were on sale at the fair. The 19th century took the name Vanity Fair to represent the world as a place of frivolity and idle amusement, most notably in Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair (1847–48). Vanity Fair has been the title of four magazines since the 1850s, in particular the current US one founded in 1914. From its earliest appearance in around 1300 vain has meant ‘lacking real worth, worthless’. To take someone's name in vain, ‘to use someone's name in a way that shows disrespect’, echoes the third of the biblical Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.’ Since the late 17th century vain has also described someone who has a high opinion of their own appearance.
Rhymesabstain, appertain, arcane, arraign, ascertain, attain, Bahrain, bane, blain, brain, Braine, Cain, Caine, campaign, cane, cinquain, chain, champagne, champaign, Champlain, Charmaine, chicane, chow mein, cocaine, Coleraine, Coltrane, complain, constrain, contain, crane, Dane, deign, demesne, demi-mondaine, detain, disdain, domain, domaine, drain, Duane, Dwane, Elaine, entertain, entrain, explain, fain, fane, feign, gain, Germaine, germane, grain, humane, Hussein, inane, Jain, Jane, Jermaine, Kane, La Fontaine, lain, lane, legerdemain, Lorraine, main, Maine, maintain, mane, mise en scène, Montaigne, moraine, mundane, obtain, ordain, Paine, pane, pertain, plain, plane, Port-of-Spain, profane, rain, Raine, refrain, reign, rein, retain, romaine, sane, Seine, Shane, Sinn Fein, skein, slain, Spain, Spillane, sprain, stain, strain, sustain, swain, terrain, thane, train, twain, Ujjain, Ukraine, underlain, urbane, vane, vein, Verlaine, vicereine, wain, wane, Wayne Definition of vain in US English: vainadjectivevānveɪn 1Having or showing an excessively high opinion of one's appearance, abilities, or worth. 自负的，自视过高的，爱虚荣的 their flattery made him vain 他们的吹捧使他自命不凡。 Example sentencesExamples - And don't be too vain to ask for help along the way.
- Unlike a lot of more vain, self-regarding actors, she finds it impossible to conceal her vulnerability.
- When you're young you just cannot imagine a universe without yourself because you are so vain.
- Possessive, vain and self-absorbed, she stifled him until, he said, he could no longer stand women.
- And she was vain, always very concerned about her appearance.
- This archbishop has, in my opinion, been a vain and self-aggrandising man throughout.
- They all agree he is arrogant and selfish and vain.
- Elizabeth, vain and proud about her legendary beauty, was convinced she'd found the secret of youth.
- He was so vain, he would change his clothes three times a day.
- Aside from being a known womanizer, he was known to be a very vain and arrogant man.
- She was the most arrogant, vain, self centred person I'd ever met.
- A man should be clean and confident in his appearance, but not vain or pretentious.
- She's a shallow, vain, self-centered woman who is going to crash and burn at a very early age.
- Not to sound vain, but I looked really hot.
- Few people can stand constant praise without becoming vain and self-centered.
- He didn't look like he was bothered by all the attention, but he wasn't vain or self-centered either.
- He was vain, egotistical, boorish and gloriously insensitive.
- Actually, I'm not being quite as vain as it may seem.
- She hated herself for being so vain and conceited.
- Looking back now I can really see I was a very vain person.
Synonyms conceited, narcissistic, self-loving, in love with oneself, self-admiring, self-regarding, wrapped up in oneself, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, self-centred, egotistic, egotistical, egoistic, egocentric, egomaniac 2attributive Producing no result; useless. 无结果的，无效的 a vain attempt to tidy up the room 徒劳的整理房间。 the vain hope of finding work 找到工作的落空希望。 Example sentencesExamples - The scream carried a vain hope that someone would do something to intervene.
- From what I could gather, he was being sent around to cold-call upon the local residents in a vain attempt to convert them to the service of his electricity utility provider.
- Many of us seem to entertain the vain hope that ignorance will confer innocence, that by denying the consequences of our complicity, it will be as if it never happened.
- So this afternoon will see me making another disconsolate tour of the shops, in the vain hope of finding a pair of shoes that is both elegant and comfortable.
- The game has always been controlled by wealthy people, often successful local businessmen who fritter away their fortunes on the vain hope of glory for their team.
- I took several deep breaths in a very vain attempt to calm myself.
- Many even stayed in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of their idol.
- The interviewer, in a vain attempt to give St Clair another opportunity to repair the damage done by his earlier answer, rephrased the question.
- A couple of Italian wine bottles and maps of the Old Country had been scattered over the walls in a vain attempt to give the place, formerly a steak restaurant, a Mediterranean feel.
- There is irritating piped music, a vain attempt to drown out the background wind-pocket moan of the ventilation/heating system and generate some atmosphere perhaps.
- Deregulation has meant that for once anyone waiting for a cab during the Christmas period will not have to spend a bone-rattling hour or so in the vain hope a taxi will come by.
- A surfer who braved 20 ft waves in a vain attempt to help rescue a mother and her children from seas off Scarborough said yesterday there was no safety equipment in the area.
- She secretly changed her name three years after being jailed for life, in the vain hope that she would be able to begin a new life outside prison.
- They fought off their own hidden preferences and opinions in a vain struggle to be identical with everyone else; to ‘fit’.
- I like to support movies like this in the perhaps vain hope that they will do well and the studios will make more of them.
- We took to channel hopping in the vain hope that something remotely interesting would catch our attention.
- He was yelling and crying, reaching out desperately and uselessly past the restraining arms in a vain attempt to bring his friend back.
- I walked up and down Tottenhan Court Road with Mark at lunchtime in a vain attempt to stave off unconsciousness.
- The way he's overcome adversity has been a real inspiration - and in a vain attempt to copy him I'm following his training programme as I prepare for my first duathlon.
- As I stood outside the store, battered by the merciless, penetrating wind, I was reminded of days when I'd wear two pairs of pyjamas under my uniform in a vain attempt to keep warm.
Synonyms futile, useless, pointless, worthless, nugatory, to no purpose, in vain - 2.1 Having no meaning or likelihood of fulfillment.
徒劳的，无意义的 徒劳的自夸。 Example sentencesExamples - It's not a vain boast on the evidence of this season.
- By and large I'm all for the right to speak your mind and give your opinion as long as it's of worth and not just some vain criticism thrown out for the sake of it.
- This turn of events, this sad return after so many vain boasts, would have made a shamed recluse out of a normal human being.
Synonyms futile, useless, pointless, to no purpose, worthless, nugatory
PhrasesWithout success or a result. 徒劳地 they waited in vain for a response 他们白等回音。 Example sentencesExamples - The crowds waited in vain for an encore, not quite believing it was time to go home already.
- Previous efforts by the council to retain industrial use on other key sites in the city have been in vain.
- "He tried in vain to resuscitate them but it was too late, " he said.
- Imagine you tell her to come straight home, then you wait in vain for the sound of her key in the door.
- The parish council has tried in vain to persuade another building society to open a branch in Pewsey.
- My hands felt slippery, and I tried in vain to calm my nerves.
- My constituents needed to know that the loss of life had not been in vain.
- The couple suffered severe burns as they battled in vain to rescue their boys from the blaze.
- Staff at the prison had tried in vain to resuscitate him in his cell.
- She was one of hundreds of customers who were trying in vain to benefit from a giveaway deal.
Synonyms futile, useless, pointless, worthless, nugatory, to no purpose unsuccessfully, vainly, without success, to no avail, to no purpose, ineffectually, with no result, fruitlessly, profitlessly, unproductively futile, useless, pointless, to no purpose, worthless, nugatory
take someone's name in vain Use someone's name in a way that shows a lack of respect. 滥用某人的名义；轻慢谈到某人的名字 Example sentencesExamples - Meanwhile a so-called rival diarist has been taking her name in vain, referring sneeringly to her brief career as an author of bodice rippers.
- ‘Someone taking my name in vain?‘said Caroline.
- No-one these days can take Odin's name in vain, and, if swearing is any guide, perhaps the Christian panoply of sacred beings is going the same way as Thor and Odin.
- They knew the third commandment: ‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.’
- For every Broons there's been a Magoons (Meet the Magoons was the short-lived Caledonian curry-house sitcom that was actually pretty good, but I'm taking its name in vain because I need a rhyme).
OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘devoid of real worth’): via Old French from Latin vanus ‘empty, without substance’. |