erstwhile

英 [ˈɜːstwaɪl]

美 [ˈɜːrstwaɪl]

adj.  以前的; 先前的; 过去的; 往昔的

GRE

Collins.1 / BNC.14300 / COCA.18074

牛津词典

adj.

• 以前的；先前的；过去的；往昔的
  former; that until recently was the type of person or thing described but is not any more
  1. an erstwhile opponent
     以前的对手
  2. His erstwhile friends turned against him.
     他先前的朋友转而与他作对。

柯林斯词典

• ADJ 以往的;往昔的
  You useerstwhileto describe someone that used to be the type of person indicated, but no longer is.
  1. Erstwhile workers may have become managers...
     过去的工人可能已经成了经理。
  2. He fled to America with Phyllis Burton, an erstwhile friend of his wife's.
     他和他妻子以前的一个朋友菲莉丝·伯顿一起逃往美国。

英英释义

adv

• at a previous time
  1. at one time he loved her
  2. her erstwhile writing
  3. she was a dancer once
  Synonym:onceformerlyat one timeerst

双语例句

• Yet, under the pressure of the crisis itself, many erstwhile grasshopper colonies are being forced to become more ant-like.
  然而，由于危机本身的压力，许多昔日的蚱蜢窝正被迫变得更像蚂蚁。
• Thanks to company shutdowns, Palo Alto the erstwhile Mecca of masculinity is now just 49 percent male.
  由于公司倒闭，帕洛阿尔托从前充满阳刚之气的圣地目前的男性人口比例仅49%。
• Before the book was published I had to rewrite it because in the meantime, the computer Deep Blue beat the erstwhile human world champion, Gary Kasparov.
  在我的书出版之前，我不得不重写，因为与此同时，计算机”深蓝“击败了昔日人类世界冠军加里卡斯帕罗夫。
• Continental Europeans want tighter constraints on the erstwhile titans of finance.
  欧洲大陆希望对昔日的金融巨擘严加约束。
• This, in turn, will require achieving three things: avoiding a headlong collapse in demand; restructuring the balance sheets of financial institutions and overindebted households; and rebalancing global demand away from erstwhile deficit countries, towards habitual creditor countries.
  这进而要求做到三件事：避免需求直线暴跌；对金融机构和负债过多家庭的资产负债表进行重组；以及调整全球需求平衡，将需求从此前的贸易赤字国家转至传统上的债权国。
• The value of the foreign assets of core countries would fall, their new currencies would soar relative to erstwhile partners and their economies shrink.
  核心国家国外资产的价值将会下滑，它们的新本币相对昔日伙伴国新本币的汇率将会飙升，它们的经济将会萎缩。
• If policymakers leave commodities trading unattended, this erstwhile backwater could one day become a sea of economic troubles.
  如果政策制定者们对大宗商品交易放任不管，这一昔日的回水可能有朝一日会变成经济的麻烦之海。
• Its erstwhile parent was quick to follow China Merchants in successfully pushing for a new licence based on its history, and managed to obtain approvals for five provinces.
  它的前任母公司迅速效仿了中国商会，根据中国商会的的历史奋力为自己争取了一个新的执照，并成功取得了在五个省份的经营许可。
• Of course, this approach assumes that you do have other erstwhile bosses and colleagues who would be happy to give you a glowing recommendation.
  当然，这种方法有一个假设的前提：你得有其他前上司和同事愿意热情洋溢地推荐你。
• He praised the prime minister for bringing Russia out of the chaos of the Boris Yeltsin years, taking a dig at his erstwhile political opponent.
  相反，他称赞普京带领俄罗斯走出了鲍里斯叶利钦（BorisYeltsin）年代的混乱，借机讽刺了一下昔日的政治对手。