dawn on:(想法、真相、意义等)开始被理解;逐渐明白;突然意识到(常用于 *it dawned on sb that...*)。
/dɔːn ɒn/(英式)
/dɔn ɑn/(美式)
It finally dawned on me that I was wrong.
我终于意识到我错了。
As the evidence piled up, it dawned on the detective that the quiet neighbor had been lying all along.
随着证据不断累积,侦探渐渐明白那位沉默的邻居一直在撒谎。
dawn 原意是“拂晓、破晓”,来自古英语 dagian(“天亮”)相关词。把“天亮”这个意象引申到思维上,形成比喻用法:理解像天色渐亮一样慢慢出现。因此 dawn on 表示“(某事)在某人心中逐渐变得清楚”。