小词详解 | versatile

versatile 英 [ˈvɜːsətaɪl] 美 [ˈvɜːrsətl]

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外刊例句

• After many false dawns, AI has made extraordinary progress in the past few years, thanks to a versatile technique called “deep learning”.
  在很多次虚幻的曙光之后，人工智能过去几年里已经取得了非凡的进步，这得感谢“深度学习”这种用途广泛的技术。
  ——《经济学人》

• He was the Beatles’ most versatile singer and not just as a balladeer.
  他是甲壳虫乐队中最多才多艺的歌手，而不只是个民谣歌手。
  ——《时代周刊》

基本释义

[adjective] able to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities
[形容词] 能够适应或适应于许多不同的功能或活动的

深入解读

Versatile 一词源自拉丁语 versatilis （能够转向的、通过转向操作的、能够轻松转向不同的主题或任务的），17世纪进入英语后原指“易变的、反复无常的”，不过这个含义现已不再流行。

等到了1762年后， versatile 开始发展出现在的主要含义指人“多才多艺的、有多种技能的、多面手的”，强调对多种需要技巧或能力的活动具有天资（aptitude）或天赋，尤其是能够顺畅无阻且能力不减地从一项活动转到另一项活动，比如：

• 一个病态的女人披头散发冲了出来。她曾是个多才多艺的演员，扮演过各种各样的角色。
  A morbid woman rushed out, her hair awry. She was a versatile actress who had played a wide variety of parts.

将这个概念用来形容工具、机器、材料、食物、建筑物等时，则相应表示“多用途的、多功能的”，即有着多种功能或者说适用于多种用途、应用或目的，比如：

• 皮夹克是一种永不过时、适合多种场合的衣服，可以在任何季节穿。
  A leather jacket is a timeless and versatile garment that can be worn in all seasons.

名著用例

At such times as this, apprehending the grounds of her refusal to be her modest sense of incompetence in matters social and polite, he would say that she was wonderfully well informed and versatile—which was certainly true, her natural quickness, and her admiration for him, having led her to pick up his vocabulary, his accent, and fragments of his knowledge, to a surprising extent.
每次到了这种时候，他总是把她的拒绝理解成是她的卑谦，理解成是她认为自己在交际和教养方面缺乏能力，因此他就称赞她知识多么地丰富，多么地多才多艺——其实这一点儿不假，她天性聪颖，加上又崇拜他，这就促使她学习他使用的词汇，学习他说话的音调，她零零碎碎向他学到的知识，达到了令人惊奇的程度。

出自英国小说家托马斯·哈代（Thomas Hardy）的长篇小说《德伯家的苔丝》（Tess of the d'Urbervilles）。

同近义词

• all-around: having a great many abilities or uses; versatile

• many-sided: having many sides or aspects

• protean: able to do many different things; versatile

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