công toi
Definition
- Noun:
- Wasted effort / fruitless labor: Refers to work, time, or energy that has been expended but yields no useful result, benefit, or success. It implies a sense of loss and futility.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Mọi nỗ lực của chúng tôi đều thành công toi. (All our efforts turned out to be wasted.)
- Thật đáng tiếc khi thấy bao nhiêu năm làm việc chăm chỉ lại là công toi. (It's a pity to see so many years of hard work come to nothing.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is often used in a figurative sense to describe not just physical labor, but also intellectual, emotional, or financial investments that come to naught.
- Kế hoạch đầu tư đó cuối cùng chỉ là công toi. (That investment plan ultimately amounted to nothing.)
Variants and Related Words
- Công cốc (n): A near-synonym meaning wasted effort or labor with no gain.
- Học mà không ôn thì cũng chỉ công cốc. (Studying without review is just wasted effort.)
Synonyms
- Wasted effort: Labor that produces no valuable outcome.
- Fruitless labor: Work that yields no fruit or result.
- In vain: Without success or a desired result.
- For nothing: With no purpose or achievement.
Related Idioms
- Công dã tràng: Literally "the sand-crab's labor"; an idiom describing futile, endless, and repetitive work that is ultimately undone, akin to "labor of Sisyphus."
- Việc dọn dẹp bãi biển đôi khi cảm thấy như công dã tràng. (Cleaning the beach sometimes feels like a futile, endless task.)