công cốc
Definition
- Idiom:
- In vain / for nothing: Describes effort, time, or money that has been expended without achieving the desired result, rendering it wasted or useless.
Usage Examples
- Idiom:
- Cả năm làm việc vất vả mà không được thăng chức, thật là công cốc. (A whole year of hard work without a promotion, it was all in vain.)
- Nó học cả đêm nhưng vẫn trượt kỳ thi, đúng là công cốc. (He studied all night but still failed the exam, it was truly for nothing.)
- Chúng tôi đầu tư nhiều tiền vào dự án đó, cuối cùng vẫn công cốc. (We invested a lot of money in that project, in the end it was still wasted.)
Advanced Usage
- The idiom is often used as a predicate complement following the verb "là" (to be) or "thật là" (it really is), or it can stand alone as an exclamatory comment on a situation.
- It conveys a strong sense of disappointment and futility regarding the outcome of one's efforts.
Variants and Related Words
- Vô ích (adj): useless, futile. While similar, "vô ích" is a general adjective, whereas "công cốc" is a specific, idiomatic expression for wasted effort.
- Mọi nỗ lực của anh ấy đều trở nên vô ích. (All his efforts became useless.)
Synonyms
- In vain: Without success or a result.
- For nothing: With no useful result; wasted.
- Futile: Incapable of producing any useful result; pointless.
Related Idioms
- Công dã tràng: Literally "the work of a sand crab," which refers to futile, Sisyphean labor that is constantly undone.
- Xây lại bức tường sau mỗi cơn bão khác nào công dã tràng. (Rebuilding the wall after every storm is like Sisyphean labor.)
- Nước đổ đầu vịt: Literally "water poured on a duck's head," meaning advice or effort that has no effect or is ignored.
- Khuyên nó mãi chẳng nghe, đúng là nước đổ đầu vịt. (Advising him repeatedly to no avail is like water off a duck's back.)