impair: [14] If to repair something is to ‘put it right’, it seems logical that to impair something should be to ‘make it wrong’. In fact, though, logic has nothing to do with it, for the two words are quite unrelated. Repair comes ultimately from Latin parāre ‘make ready’, whereas impair goes back via Old French empeirier to Vulgar Latin *impējōrāre ‘make worse’.
impair (v.)
late 14c., earlier ampayre, apeyre (c. 1300), from Old French empeirier (Modern French empirer), from Vulgar Latin *impeiorare "make worse," from assimilated form of in- "into, in" (see in- (2)) + Late Latin peiorare "make worse" (see pejorative). In reference to driving under the influence of alcohol, first recorded 1951 in Canadian English. Related: Impaired; impairing.
实用例句
1. Tiredness can seriously impair your ability to drive.
疲劳会大大影响你的驾驶能力.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. It can not impair the intellectual vigor of the young.
这不能磨灭青年人思想活力.
来自辞典例句
3. The author's half drunken state did not in the least impair his eminence in my eyes.
在我的眼里,这位作家的醺醺醉态丝毫无损他的高尚.
来自辞典例句
4. A recurrence of such an oversight could impair our amicable relations.
这样的疏忽倘若再发生,可能有损双方的友好贸易关系.
来自互联网
5. To weaken, injure, or impair, often by degrees or imperceptibly; sap.
