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

• It's easy to sympathise: the erstwhile masters of the universe seem to have forgotten the meaning of both moral and hazard.
  这很容易让人同情：过去的宇宙主宰者（mastersoftheuniverse）们似乎忘记了道德和风险的涵义。
• By contrast, Britain and its erstwhile EU partners would have to decide quickly how people on the wrong side of newly erected barriers to the free movement of labour should be treated.
  相比之下，英国与之前的欧盟伙伴必须迅速作出决定，为身处因劳动力自由流动而新竖立起来的壁垒错误一边的人们应当得到怎样的待遇。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。