Word of the Day : July 8, 2023
rectitude
公正；正直；诚实
noun /REK-tuh-tood/[ˈrektɪˌtud]
What It Means
Rectitude is a formal noun that means “moral integrity or righteousness” or “the quality or state of being correct in judgment or procedure.”
Rectitude 正式词，意思是“道德正直、正义”或“（或程序）具有正确判断的品行”。
RECTITUDE in Context
“The district attorney was the picture of a gray-haired eminence, a figure of rectitude in a circus of a city. He conducted his indictment press conferences—an evening news staple—sitting down, grim as an undertaker, at the center of a long boardroom table. Unlike ... his bête noire at the U.S. attorney's office, he never raised his voice, cracked a smile or indulged in theatrics.” — Andrew Kirtzman, The Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2022
The keynote speaker encouraged the graduates to go on to live lives of unimpeachable rectitude and integrity.
主讲人鼓励毕业生继续过着无可挑剔的正义以及正直的生活。
As treasurer of the club, she advocated a kind of fiscal rectitude that is widely credited with saving the organization from financial ruin.
作为俱乐部的财务主管的她提倡了一种财政上的正直廉洁，被广泛认为能使该组织免于财务危机。
Did You Know?
Ready for some straight talk about rectitude? Righto! Rectitude is a formal word that comes from the Latin adjective rectus, which means both “right” and “straight,” and ultimately from the Latin verb regere, meaning “to lead straight.” Rectitude today typically refers to moral integrity—that is, to “straightness” or “rightness” of character. (An early use referred literally to a straight line, but that sense is now rare.) Rectus has a number of other descendants in English, including rectangle (a closed four-sided figure with four right angles), rectify (“to make right”), rectilinear (“moving in or forming a straight line”), and even rectus itself, a medical term for any one of several straight muscles in the body.
准备好谈论 rectitude 了吗？Righto！Rectitude 正式词，源自拉丁语形容词 ectus，意思是“tight「正确」”和“straight「笔直」”，最终源自拉丁语动词 regere，意思是“to lead straight「直接引导」”。今天的 rectitude 通常指道德正义，即性格“ straightness 「直接；率真」”或“rightness「正义」”。（早期的用法有字面含义是直线，但现在已经很少见了。） Rectus 在英语中还有许多其他后裔，包括 rectangle「矩形」（具有四个直角的四边形）、rectify「纠正」（“to make right”）、rectilinear「直线」（“移动形成一条直线”），甚至 rectus 本身，医学术语，指身体几块直肌中的任意一块。
Test Your Vocabulary
Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective that means “singularly evil or productive of evil” and “of, relating to, or situated to the left or on the left side of something”: _ i n _ s _ _ r.
sinister