外國人都會用錯的10個英文單詞範例
10、Refute
第十位：Refute
“Refute” means to “disprove with evidence” and yet it’s commonly used, even by professional writers, to mean “rebut” which carries a similar meaning but isn’t quite so strong, as it can also mean “argue against.” The example here (“Simon Cowell refutes ‘scandalous’ claims he helped billionaire hide assets from wife he was divorcing”) is from a recent Daily Mail article. For those outside the UK, the Daily Mail is a newspaper which regularly rages against falling educational standards. A special mention to Sarah Palin who invented a new word “refudiate”; the usage suggests she meant repudiate.
“Refute”意爲“通過證據來反對”，然而它常被普通人甚至職業作家當作“rebut（反駁）”一詞使用。儘管兩者意思相近，都會有 “反駁”之意，但“rebut”的語氣不如 “refute”強。有個例子來自近期的每日郵報文章：西蒙•科威爾 “refute駁斥” “醜聞”，聲稱他幫百萬富翁私藏財產，躲過前妻視線。對於那些沒有生活在英國的人來說，每日郵報只是個不定時抱怨一下教育水平下降的報紙。值得一提的是，莎拉•佩林創建了新詞彙“refudiate（否認）”, 用法等同於 “repudiate”，意爲“否認”。
9、Instant
第九位：Instant
Nowadays, it’s almost universally assumed that “instant” actually means “quickly” or “without intervention.” Obviously, it doesn’t. It actually refers to a precise moment in time. Google Instant is a good example of this word being abused.
如今，幾乎所有人都認爲“instant”就是“迅速”或“連續”的意思，但顯然不是這樣。它事實上是指在精準的時間內。谷歌即時搜索就是一個濫用該詞的典型例子。
8、Enormity
第八位：Enormity
“Enormity” means “extreme evil”, but it’s often used to mean “enormousness”. US President, George HW Bush missed this one when he said after being elected that he “Couldn’t believe the enormity of the situation.” A perfect example of irony (which, in the context I have just used it, is correct).
“Enormity”意爲“窮兇極惡”，但它卻常用來指“巨大”之意。美國前總統，喬治•沃克•布什，曾經誤用過該詞，在就職典禮上，他發言道“沒想到任務如此之大。”這是個具有諷刺意味的例子。
7、Less
第七位：Less
Less is used when comparing quantities that can’t be counted; for example, “I’d like less milk.” If you’re comparing quantities (like bagels, for example) then “fewer” should be used. But you don’t win many competitions with a tie break if you point out that “25 words or less” should actually be “25 words or fewer.” The antonyms “more than” and “greater than” get similarly misused. Programmers will know the comparison operators are referred to as “greater than and less than”; it should really be “greater than and fewer than”.
“Less” 用於形容不可數名詞，如“我想喝一點牛奶。”如果形容可數名詞，如百吉餅之類，這時，那就應該用 “fewer”。 但如果你比賽平局時你指出“25字或less（更少）”其實就是 “25字或fewer（更少）。”這種誤用同樣也出現在反義詞 “more than” 和 “greater than”。程序員知道指代 “greater than and less than（比。。。大，比。。。小）”的比較運算符實爲 “greater than and fewer than（比。。。大，比。。。小）”。
6、Chronic
第六位：Chronic
Chronic is originally a medical term meaning “long term”; it has the same root as “chronometer”. Someone suffering from chronic pain has long term pain. It’s often used to mean “very bad” – in fact “acute” should be used instead. Despite that, it’s easy to find recent examples: “O’Brien: INM in ‘chronic’ state”.
“Chronic” 原爲醫學術語，意指“長期”，它與 “chronometer精密計時器” 含有相同的詞根。如“患慢性病的人，承受着長期痛苦。”但它卻常被用於形容“嚴重的”— 事實上， 應該用 “acute”一詞來替代。除了這個錯用之外，還有其他的事例，如最近的奧伯裏恩說道“INM 爲一種慢性病。
5、Literally
第五位：Literally
This is such a widely known misused word that examples are less common, as most people know to avoid the term – which should be used to describe something that is actually happening (for example, “He literally danced with joy.”) but should not be used for emphasis (“Steam was literally coming out of his ears.”) This example quotes a, now deceased, reverend gentleman who seemed to rejoice in, frankly, daft opinions, including one about a “literal homosexual steamroller”:
這個詞被錯誤使用的頻率相當高，但大多人都選擇詞避而不用，因而錯用實例不多。它本用來描述正在發生的某事，如，“他正高興的手舞足蹈”。但是不能被用作強調，如“蒸汽確實從他的耳朵裏冒出來。”坦白的說，這個例子形容已故紳士享受“literal homosexual steamroller（“正要撲倒對方的同性戀”）的愚蠢畫面。
4、Panacea
第四位：Panacea
“Panacea” means a cure all; it comes from the same Greek root as “panorama”. It shouldn’t be used to imply a cure for a single thing, and yet here is a newspaper saying: “SOUTH AFRICA: Welfare payments – a panacea for poverty?”
“panacea”意指包治百病的靈藥，它與希臘語“panorama全景”含有同一詞根。它不能用來形容對單一事物的治療，而有家報紙上卻說“南非：社會福利——窮人的 “a panacea”一種靈丹？”
3、Disinterested
第三位：Disinterested
Does “disinterested” mean the same as “uninterested”? No. Here’s an example of misuse: “TomTom Disinterested in Windows Phone 7 Too?”. “Disinterested” means that a party is independent; so a dispute might be settled by a disinterested party. “Uninterested” means the party has no interest. “I asked John if he wanted to go to the cricket, but he was completely uninterested.”
“disinterested”和“uninterested”意思相同嗎？不是。這裏有一個誤用的例子，“湯姆對微軟視窗系統“disinterested不公正”嗎？” “Disinterested”意指公正；所以紛爭可以通過公正的人來解決。而 “uninterested”是指沒有興趣。如，“我問約翰是否想去打板球，但他一點兒也’uninterested不感興趣’。”
2、Decimate
第二位：Decimate
Decimation was a Roman punishment where one in ten men was killed. So when something is decimated, it implies that ten percent of it is destroyed. “Devastate” is almost certainly a better word for most usages and yet: “New York City budget will decimate libraries”.
“Decimation”曾用來形容古羅馬的一項刑罰：十個人中死一個。所以當 “decimate”用於形容一件事情時，它意味着毀滅了十分之一的程度。“紐約市的預算將會毀掉圖書館”中的“decimate毀掉”一詞用“Devastate”更合適。所以相對來說，“Devastate”更常用。
1、 Ultimate
1、 第一位：Ultimate
From the Latin, this means the last in a list of items. But it’s so widely used to indicate the best; a google search for “ultimate phone” gives 307 million hits. I’d argue that the last phone has yet to be made. This is probably the most misused word on the Internet; type “ultimate” into google and thousands of hits come up, pretty much all of them using it as “the best”. However, for a change, this is the ultimate entry in this list.
在拉丁語中，它用於表示列表中的最後一項，但卻經常被用來形容“最好的”。在谷歌引擎上搜索“ultimate phone最好的電話”的次數高達30700萬。對此我堅持認爲是“最後一通電話”。該詞可能是網上誤用最多的單詞了。在谷歌中輸入“ultimate”，會出現上千個搜索結果，但大多數都把它用作“最好的”。不過，換個話題說，這的確是本文最後一個詞目了。
