2020-12-30
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด R – Restive & restless
แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง Restive = ‘RES-tiv’
ออกเสียง Restless = ‘REST-lis’
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree
restive
nervous, unquiet; recalcitrant, disobedient, obstinate, balky: a restive horse
Not to be confused with:
restless – agitated, fretful, without rest: restless night
Farlex Trivia Dictionary.
restive
restless - Restive means impatient or fidgety under pressure or restraint; restless is being uneasy, unquiet, or unable to relax or rest.
See also related terms for relax.
Collins COBUILD English Usage
Restful – restless
1. 'restful'
Something that is restful helps you to feel calm and relaxed.
The lighting is restful.
2. 'restless'
A restless child cannot keep stillor quiet.
Some babies are tense and restless during the early weeks.
You also say that someone is restless
when they are bored with what they are doing
and want to do something else.
I knew within a fortnight I should feel restless again.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for restive
CONTRARY, PERVERSE, RESTIVE, BALKY, WAYWARD
mean inclined to resist authority or control.
CONTRARY implies a temperamental unwillingness to accept orders or advice. a contrary child
PERVERSE may imply wrongheaded, determined, or cranky opposition to what is reasonable or normal. a perverse, intractable critic
RESTIVE suggests unwillingness or inability to submit to discipline or follow orders. tired soldiers growing restive
BALKY suggests a refusing to proceed in a desired direction or course of action. a balky witness
WAYWARD suggests strong-willed capriciousness and irregularity in behavior. a school for wayward youths
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Did You Know?
Restive ultimately comes from the Anglo-French word rester,
meaning "to stop, resist, or remain."
In its earliest use, restive meant "sluggish" or "inactive,"
though this sense is no longer in use.
Another early sense was "stubborn, obstinate."
Specifically, restive often referred to horses
that refused to do as commanded.
This general application to unruly horses
may have influenced the development of
the "fidgety, impatient" senseof restive.
Some usage commentators have objected to this newer sense,
but it has been in use for well over a century,
and is now the more common of the uses.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
'Restive': A Word That Won't Sit Still
Its latest sense has been in use for over a century
Sometimes a word will change meaning in a glamorous fashion,
as when a famous writer grabs it by the scruff of its neck,
shakes it a few times, and through majestic force of will
makes it take on a new sense
(this doesn’t happen as often as we like to think it does).
Other words take on new meanings in less-glamorous ways,
such as when people simply misinterpretthem
because of how they look.
For hundreds of years the main meaning of fruition
was “the pleasurable use or possession of something.”
But eventually enough people seemed to reason
that any word that begins with these five letters
must have something to do with fruit,
and so the word took on the additional
meaning of “the state of bearing fruit.”
And the word internecine initially only meant “marked by slaughter”
until Samuel Johnson misinterpreted the prefix inter-
as meaning “mutual”
and gave birth to the word’s current meaning
“of, relating to, or involvingconflict within a group”
(although inter- usually means“between” or “mutual”
it may also be used to indicate completion of an action).
Similar to these two words is the caseof restive.
The word has gone from meaning "stubborn" to "fidgety"
in the last century and a half.
Based on the fact that it is an adjectivebeginning with rest-,
people will occasionally assume that the word
is the same as restless.
Although there is enough semantic overlap
that such confusion is understandable,
these words are distinct from each other.
Restive came into English use in the 15th century,
descended from the Anglo-French rester,
meaning "to stop, resist, or remain.”
Its initial meaning
was “stubbornly resisting control or guidance; obstinate in refusal,”
and for some time the word was primarily appliedto animals
such as horses.
Nowe if wee doe so; then must that which is spoken in the two & thirtith Psalme bee practised vppon vs, to wit, that God will deale with sturdie and hardharted folkes as with restiue horses, and madde moyles.
— Jean Calvin, The Sermons of M. Iohn Caluin, 1583
Over the next few hundred years restive had a number of other meanings (such as “inflexible,” “sluggish,” and “persistent”)
which were closely related, and the word was
often found used in reference to people as well as animals.
In the middle of the 19th century this semantic drift
began to include the meaning “marked byimpatience or uneasiness.”
At nine o’clock the next day, however the man appeared, and stocking full after stocking full was carried up and emptied on the table, until severn thousand was counted.—The merchant, somewhat restive, but honourably caught, took the silver, gave a check for the amount, with seven per cent added….— The Middlebury Register (Middlebury, VT), 2 Dec. 1845
He did right to preach to women: men would not have listened to him. As it was, Miss Joy Blewins, and Mrs. M’Murphy, were restive.— George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, 1859
Although the oldest sense of restive (“balky”) has not died out completely,
it is overshadowed by the more recent one (“fidgety”).
There are still usage guides which recommend against
using restive in this modern sense,
but there is well over a century and a half of evidence of such use,
by writers of all levels.
The modern senses of fruition and internecine
are similarly fine.
If you're among the restive (earlier meaning) ones
who fight against adding new senses based on incorrect usage,
we apologize if this news makes you feel restive (newer one).
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
Restive & restless
These related words have a common Latin base,
a term meaning “to remain standing.”
A restive person or animal is unable to remain at rest (that is, quiet) because he cannot bear restraint or control
and becomes impatient with delay:
“When tied to a hitching post, the horse became restive.”
Restless is a commonly used word applied more to unquiet
and unease of the mind or emotionsthan of the body
and usually suggesting the absence of actual restraint:
“This restless patient has grown restive under hospital regulations.”
Restive, unlike restless, also implies refusing to move,
being balky or recalcitrant.
A horse chafing under a bit and refusing to obey
its rider’s commands would be termed restive,not restless.
