absent-mindedly
absent-mindedly — 副詞
1. with your thoughts somewhere else rather than on the action in front of you, so
心不在焉地
做事時心思飄到別處而沒注意當下
with your thoughts somewhere else rather than on the action in front of you, so that you carry it out without really noticing or later remembering the small details.
Yan stirred her tea absent-mindedly while staring out at the rain.
Yan 心不在焉地攪著茶，望著窗外的雨。
verb + absent-mindedly modifying a small action
Darius nodded absent-mindedly at his son, still thinking about the Monday meeting.
Darius 對兒子心不在焉地點點頭，腦袋還停在週一的會議上。
absent-mindedly + reason clause showing where the mind really is
Beatrix walked past her own front door absent-mindedly and had to turn back.
Beatrix 心不在焉地走過自家大門，還得回頭折返。
The pianist absent-mindedly tapped the table with her pencil during the lecture.
那位鋼琴家在演講中心不在焉地用鉛筆敲著桌面。
Nikhil put the milk in the cupboard absent-mindedly and left the cereal in the fridge.
Nikhil 心不在焉地把牛奶放進櫥櫃，麥片卻留在冰箱裡。
- distractedly
very close in meaning; emphasises being pulled away by something specific
- vacantly
stresses an empty, unfocused look rather than thoughts being elsewhere
- inattentively
more formal; highlights failure to pay attention rather than daydreaming
- attentively
with full focus on what is happening
- alertly
noticing everything around you
文法句型
verb + absent-mindedly
用法筆記
Almost always modifies a low-effort physical action (stirring, nodding, tapping, walking, putting something somewhere). Rarely modifies verbs of careful thinking or planning, since the whole point is that the mind is elsewhere.