Definition

1. Verb:
   • To give up / to abandon: To stop trying to do something or to stop caring about a situation because you feel you cannot succeed or change it. It implies a surrender due to discouragement, weariness, or hopelessness.
   • To let (something) run its course / to neglect: To stop managing or controlling a situation, allowing it to develop without any further effort or intervention, often leading to a negative outcome.
   • (Of a person) to pass away / to die (figurative, literary): Used in the phrase "hai tay buông xuôi" (to drop both hands) as a euphemism for dying.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Sau nhiều lần thất bại, anh ấy đã buông xuôi. (After many failures, he gave up.)
  • Đừng buông xuôi việc học hành. (Don't neglect your studies.)
  • Cụ già đã hai tay buông xuôi trong giấc ngủ. (The old man passed away in his sleep.)

Advanced Usage

• The word carries a strong connotation of passive resignation and emotional surrender, rather than a strategic decision to stop. It often suggests a negative judgment on the action.

Variants and Related Words

• Buông (v): to let go of, to release.
  • Buông tay: to let go of someone's hand; to give up control.
• Buông thả (v): to let loose, to abandon oneself (often to negative habits or emotions).
  • Buông thả bản thân: to let oneself go.

Synonyms

• Abandon: to cease support or look after.
• Give up: to stop attempting something.
• Neglect: to fail to care for properly.
• Resign oneself: to accept something undesirable as inevitable.

Related Idioms

• Hai tay buông xuôi: (idiom) Literally "to drop both hands"; to die, to pass away.
  • Ông ấy ra đi một cách thanh thản, hai tay buông xuôi. (He passed away peacefully.)
• Buông xuôi phó mặc: (idiomatic phrase) To completely abandon and leave to fate; to give up entirely.
  • Anh ta buông xuôi phó mặc cho số phận. (He abandoned everything to fate.)

1. To let (something) run its course
   • vì chán nản, nên buông xuôi
     out of weariness, he let things run their course
   • hai tay buông xuôi
     to drop off, to die