Definition

1. Verb:
   • To suppress one's anger silently: To forcibly hold back or contain one's fury, resentment, or extreme irritation without expressing it outwardly. This involves enduring a provocation while keeping one's emotions bottled up inside.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Nghe những lời xúc phạm, anh ta chỉ biết cắn răng bấm gan. (Hearing the insults, he could only grit his teeth and suppress his anger.)
  • Dù rất tức giận, cô ấy vẫn phải bấm gan mỉm cười cho xong chuyện. (Although very angry, she still had to suppress her anger and smile to settle the matter.)
  • Không thể phản ứng lại, hắn đành bấm gan chịu đựng. (Unable to retaliate, he had no choice but to suppress his anger and endure it.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase is almost exclusively used in the fixed form "bấm gan" or "cắn răng bấm gan" (to grit one's teeth and suppress anger), emphasizing a state of forced, silent endurance in the face of humiliation or injustice.

Variants and Related Words

• Nén giận (v): to hold back anger. A more common near-synonym.
• Kìm nén (v): to restrain, to suppress (can be used for emotions like anger).
• Cắn răng chịu đựng (idiomatic phrase): to grit one's teeth and bear it.

Synonyms

• To bottle up one's anger: To refuse to express angry feelings.
• To choke back one's rage: To struggle to prevent rage from being expressed.
• To swallow one's anger: To accept something annoying without protesting.

Related Idioms

• Cắn răng bấm gan: To grit one's teeth and suppress one's fury. This compound idiom intensifies the sense of bitter endurance.
  • Vì hoàn cảnh khó khăn, ông ấy phải cắn răng bấm gan làm việc ở đó. (Due to difficult circumstances, he had to grit his teeth, suppress his anger, and work there.)

verb

1. To suppress one's anger silently