piffle away sth
表示把时间、金钱等挥霍掉;宾语也可放在 away 之前,说成 piffle sth away,若宾语是代词则只能置于其后。
He piffled away his whole salary on gadgets he never used.
他把整份工资都浪费在从没用过的小玩意上。
浪费;虚度;做或说无用、无效或荒谬之事;浪费,挥霍;讲废话
To act or speak in a silly, meaningless, or ineffective way.
做或说无用、无效或荒谬之事
To act or speak in a futile, ineffective, or nonsensical manner.
浪费,挥霍
To waste, to fritter away.
一般现在时
He piffles around all day.
他整天瞎混做蠢事。
一般过去时
She piffled away her time on trivialities.
她把时间浪费在琐事上。
现在完成时
They have piffled for hours without any result.
他们胡扯了几个小时没有任何结果。
规则动词
My brother always piffles when he tries to explain math problems.
我哥哥在试图解释数学问题时总是胡扯一通。
用法提示:这里 'piffles' 是动词第三人称单数形式,表示做无用的废话。
She piffled for hours about her trip instead of doing her homework.
她花了好几个小时胡扯她的旅行,而不是做作业。
用法提示:这里 'piffled' 是过去时,表示过去的行为。
Stop piffling around and focus on the task at hand.
别胡闹了,专注于手头的任务。
用法提示:这里 'piffling' 是现在分词,表示正在发生的无用行为。
表示把时间、金钱等挥霍掉;宾语也可放在 away 之前,说成 piffle sth away,若宾语是代词则只能置于其后。
He piffled away his whole salary on gadgets he never used.
他把整份工资都浪费在从没用过的小玩意上。
不及物用法,about 也可换成 around,指无所事事地瞎忙、把时间浪费掉,常含轻微责备语气。
They spent the whole morning piffling about instead of packing.
他们整个上午都在瞎忙活,没有收拾行李。
grammar · medium
易错句子She was piffleing away the whole afternoon.
正确表达She was piffling away the whole afternoon.
piffle 以不发音的 e 结尾,加 -ing 时要先去掉 e,变为 piffling;写成 piffleing 不符合英语拼写规则。
grammar · medium
易错句子Stop piffling me—just tell me what happened.
正确表达Stop piffling—just tell me what happened.
表示“胡扯、说废话”时,piffle 是不及物动词,后面不能直接跟人作宾语;去掉 me 后,piffle 单独使用才符合其不及物用法。
两者都能沾上“浪费”,但 trifle 表示浪费时必须与 away 连用(trifle away one's savings),它更常见的动词义是“不认真地对待、玩弄”(trifle with sb's feelings)。piffle 更书面、更老派,多为英式口语,强调说废话、做徒劳无用的事,其“浪费”义可直接带宾语。日常表达“浪费”时英语多半用 waste,两个词都不常用。
twaddle 侧重“内容空洞、无聊的废话”,主要作名词,作动词时不及物,不能带宾语(Stop twaddling!)。piffle 作动词除“说废话”外还可表示“浪费(钱财、时间)”,可直接带宾语。两者都带贬义且都偏口语老派,但 twaddle 批评的是话本身没内容,piffle 批评的是行为徒劳无益。
fritter 表示“浪费”时固定与 away 搭配,强调零碎、逐渐地耗掉(fritter away time on social media),不能说 fritter time 单独成义。piffle 的“浪费”义更生僻古旧,且可直接带宾语。谈日常浪费时间,英语里几乎都用 fritter away 或 waste,不用 piffle。
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