Definition

1. Verb:
   • To socialize or associate (with someone): Refers to the act of spending time with friends or companions, often in a casual or leisurely context.
   • To indulge in frivolous or dissolute pastimes: Describes engaging excessively in entertainment, pleasure-seeking, or idle amusement, often with a negative connotation of neglecting responsibilities.
   • To do something carelessly or half-heartedly: Used as an adverbial phrase following a verb to indicate that an action is performed without seriousness, proper effort, or concern for the outcome.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Hắn chỉ biết chơi bời với lũ bạn vô công rỗi nghề. (He only knows how to hang out with his idle friends.)
  • Nó suốt ngày chơi bời, không lo học hành. (He spends all day carousing, with no thought for his studies.)
  • Làm chơi bời như thế thì hỏng việc mất. (If you do it so carelessly, the work will be ruined.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often carries a moral judgment, implying wasted time, lack of ambition, or engagement in questionable activities.
• It can describe a general lifestyle of hedonism or irresponsibility, not just a single activity.

Variants and Related Words

• Chơi bời lêu lổng (v): To loaf about, to lead a dissolute and aimless life.
  • Thanh niên không nên chơi bời lêu lổng. (Young people should not loaf about.)
• Ăn chơi (v): To live a life of pleasure and indulgence.
  • Hắn nổi tiếng là tay ăn chơi. (He is known as a pleasure-seeker.)

Synonyms

• To socialize: To participate in social activities.
• To carouse: To drink and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way.
• To frolic: To play and move about cheerfully, excitedly, or energetically.
• To loaf: To spend time in a lazy, idle way.

Related Idioms

• Chơi bời phóng túng: To live a wild, unrestrained, and dissolute life.
  • Thời trẻ, ông ấy sống một cuộc đời chơi bời phóng túng. (In his youth, he lived a wild and dissolute life.)

verb

1. To be friends
2. To indulge in play
   • chỉ chơi bời, không lo học
     to be more interested in playing than in learning
3. To play at
   • làm chơi bời
     to play at working