Definition

1. Verb:
   • To break one's promise, to fail to keep one's pledge: "bội ước" describes the act of not fulfilling a commitment, vow, or agreement one has made.
   • To renege, to go back on one's word: It implies a betrayal of trust by violating a previously made promise or contract.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ta đã bội ước với lời hứa của mình. (He broke his promise.)
  • Hai bên ký hiệp định nhưng một bên đã bội ước. (The two parties signed the agreement, but one side reneged.)
  • Không nên bội ước với người đã tin tưởng mình. (One should not break a promise to someone who trusted them.)

Advanced Usage

• "bội ước thề nguyền": to break a vow or oath (often used in romantic or solemn contexts).

  • Họ thề nguyền sống chết có nhau, nhưng cuối cùng anh ấy lại bội ước. (They vowed to be together in life and death, but in the end, he broke his vow.)

• "hành động bội ước": an act of breaking a promise.

  • Hành động bội ước của anh ấy khiến mọi người thất vọng. (His act of breaking the promise disappointed everyone.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bội tín (verb): to be untrustworthy, to break faith. This is a close synonym but can have a broader sense of betraying trust in general.
• Thất hứa (verb): to break a promise. This is a more common and direct synonym for failing to keep a promise.
• Nuốt lời (verb, idiomatic): to go back on one's word (literally: to swallow one's words).

Synonyms

• Thất hứa: to break a promise.
• Nuốt lời: to go back on one's word.
• Phản bội lời thề: to betray a vow.

Related Idioms

• "Ký chưa ráo mực, đã bội ước": The ink on the signature is not yet dry, but the promise is already broken. This idiom describes a very quick betrayal or violation of a freshly made agreement.
  • Hợp đồng vừa ký xong, họ đã bội ước, đúng là "ký chưa ráo mực, đã bội ước". (Right after the contract was signed, they reneged, truly a case of "the ink wasn't dry before the promise was broken".)

1. To break one's promise, not to live up to one's pledge
   • một hành động bội ước
     a break of pledge
   • ký chưa ráo mực, đã bội ước
     the ink of the signatures on the agreement had hardly dried when it was broken