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

• 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。
• Imposing one-sided adjustment on erstwhile debtors will not work.
  让昔日债务人单方面调整不会有多大效果。
• As France's erstwhile first lady flew to India yesterday on a humanitarian assignment, friends said she was expecting to thrash out a financial settlement with the head of state upon her return.
  这位法国的前第一夫人昨日飞往印度进行人道主义访问，她的朋友透露她一回来就要向法国总统索要分手费。
• My erstwhile publisher asked whether I would acquiesce to omitting some "sensitive material" and changing some wording.
  我从前的出版商问我是否同意删除一些“敏感材料”和改变一些措词。
• 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。
• His erstwhile leftwing coalition allies and, it is widely believed, the more populist impulses of senior Congress politicians including Mrs Gandhi, have curbed his push for financial sector reforms.
  他从前的左翼同盟政党、以及（人们普遍认为）包括索尼娅甘地在内的国大党高层更加民粹主义的倾向，都遏制了辛格推行金融业改革的努力。
• Both are in better shape than their erstwhile rivals.
  他们的情况比以前的竞争对手都要好。
• Erstwhile spammers are also making use of online-coupon services such as Groupon ( grpn).
  此外，昔日的垃圾邮件制作者还在利用团购网站Groupon等在线优惠券服务。
• Ideally, these would be people to whom you reported, but erstwhile peers and others ( satisfied clients, for example) will do in a pinch.
  理想情况下，这些人应该是你的直接上司，如果没有的话，以前的同事和其他人（比如对你很满意的客户）也凑合。
• Washington's crime was to assume that the Yalta agreement had fallen along with the Berlin Wall, and that the peoples and nations of the erstwhile Soviet empire should thus be free to make their own choices.
  美国政府的错误在于想当然地认为雅尔塔协定（YaltaAgreement）也伴随着柏林墙的倒塌而失效，因此昔日臣服于苏联帝国的民族和国家应该可以自由选择。