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

• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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%。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• 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。
• Erstwhile workers may have become managers
  过去的工人可能已经成了经理。
• 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。