Definition

1. Verb:
   • To take pains; to make a concerted effort: To apply careful and diligent effort, often involving significant time and attention to detail, especially in intellectual, artistic, or skilled work.
   • To labor; to strive: To work assiduously and with great care toward achieving a specific, often refined, result.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ấy đã dụng công thiết kế một cái máy. (He took pains to design a machine.)
  • Nhà văn dụng công miêu tả một nhân vật. (The writer labored to describe a character.)
  • Cô ấy dụng công nghiên cứu tài liệu. (She applied great effort to researching the documents.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often implies that the effort is not merely routine but involves special care, dedication, and a focus on quality or perfection. It is frequently used in contexts of study, creation, craftsmanship, or detailed work.
• It can carry a nuance of deliberate, thoughtful exertion rather than just hard physical labor.

Variants and Related Words

• Dụng tâm (v): To do something with careful intention or purpose; to be mindful. While similar, "dụng tâm" emphasizes intent, whereas "dụng công" emphasizes the exertion of effort itself.
• Công phu (n/adj): Painstaking effort; meticulous work. This is often the noun form describing the result or quality of "dụng công."

Synonyms

• To take pains: To be especially careful and thorough.
• To labor: To work hard, especially on something demanding.
• To strive: To make great efforts to achieve or obtain something.
• To exert oneself: To make a physical or mental effort.

Related Idioms

• Dụng công học tập: To study diligently; to apply oneself to one's studies.
  • Cậu học trò ấy rất dụng công học tập. (That student studies very diligently.)
• While not a fixed idiom, the phrase dụng công rèn luyện is common, meaning "to train or practice assiduously."

1. Take pains (in carrying out research, in artistic creation)
   • Dụng công thiết kế một cái máy
     To design painstakingly a machine
   • Dụng công miêu tả một nhân vật
     To take pains in describing a character