(形容词)不太可能成功的;前景不佳的;看起来缺乏希望的。(也可指“外表/迹象不佳”,暗示结果可能不好。)
/ʌnˈprɑːmɪsɪŋ/
The weather looked unpromising, so we stayed indoors.
天气看起来不太好,所以我们待在室内。
Although the early results were unpromising, the team refined the method and eventually achieved reliable improvements.
尽管最初的结果并不乐观,团队还是改进了方法,最终取得了可靠的提升。
由否定前缀 **un-**(表示“不、非”)+ promising(“有希望的、有前景的”,来自 promise “承诺、预示”)构成,字面意思就是“没有希望的/不显示好兆头的”。