Definition

1. Verb:
   • To clear (a place) of mines; to demine: The primary meaning of "gỡ mìn" is the dangerous, technical process of locating and removing or deactivating explosive mines from an area to make it safe.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Các kỹ sư quân sự đang gỡ mìn ở khu vực biên giới. (Military engineers are demining the border area.)
  • Sau chiến tranh, việc gỡ mìn là ưu tiên hàng đầu. (After the war, clearing mines is the top priority.)
  • Họ sử dụng chó nghiệp vụ để hỗ trợ gỡ mìn. (They use service dogs to assist in demining.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is almost exclusively used in military, humanitarian, or post-conflict contexts. It describes a systematic clearance operation, not a single act of removing one mine.

Variants and Related Words

• Rà phá mìn (v): to detect and clear mines; often used as a more technical or formal term for the full process.

  • Dự án rà phá mìn sẽ kéo dài nhiều năm. (The mine detection and clearance project will last for many years.)

• Tháo gỡ mìn (v): to disarm/deactivate a mine; can emphasize the hands-on technical action of neutralizing the explosive device.

  • Chuyên gia cẩn thận tháo gỡ mìn bằng tay. (The expert carefully disarmed the mine by hand.)

Synonyms

• Demine: to remove mines from an area.
• Clear mines: to make an area free from mines.
• Defuse (often used for a single device): to make a bomb or mine harmless.

Related Idioms

• While there are no direct idioms with "gỡ mìn," the concept is central to the common humanitarian phrase:
• "Bài toán gỡ mìn" (literally, "the demining equation/problem"): Refers metaphorically to a complex, dangerous, and difficult-to-solve situation.
  • Cải tổ bộ máy hành chính là một bài toán gỡ mìn thực sự. (Reforming the administrative apparatus is a real demining puzzle.)

1. Clear (a place) of mines; demine