Definition

1. Verb:
   • To appeal for justice, to claim one's innocence: The act of formally presenting a complaint or plea to authorities (e.g., government officials, the court) to protest an injustice or wrongful accusation and to seek redress or vindication. It implies a strong sense of grievance and a formal request for attention to a perceived wrong.
   • To plead one's innocence: To state or argue that one is not guilty of a crime or wrongdoing, often in a formal or desperate manner.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Người dân đã khiếu oan lên chính quyền địa phương về vụ thu hồi đất bất công. (The citizens appealed for justice to the local authorities regarding the unjust land seizure.)
  • Bà ấy kiên trì khiếu oan cho con trai mình suốt nhiều năm trời. (She persistently pleaded her son's innocence for many years.)
  • Trong phiên tòa, bị cáo liên tục khiếu oan. (During the trial, the defendant repeatedly claimed his innocence.)

Advanced Usage

• "khiếu oan khắp nơi": to appeal for justice everywhere, to take one's grievance to every possible authority.
  • Bất lực trước tòa án địa phương, gia đình nạn nhân đã phải khiếu oan khắp nơi. (Powerless before the local court, the victim's family had to appeal for justice everywhere.)
• "đơn khiếu oan": a petition of grievance, a formal written appeal claiming injustice or innocence.
  • Họ đã gửi đơn khiếu oan lên các cơ quan trung ương. (They submitted a petition of grievance to the central agencies.)

Variants and Related Words

• Khiếu nại (verb): To complain, to lodge a complaint (a broader term for filing a complaint, not necessarily about personal injustice/innocence).
  • Người tiêu dùng có quyền khiếu nại về sản phẩm kém chất lượng. (Consumers have the right to complain about poor-quality products.)
• Oan ức (noun): Injustice, wrongful grievance; a feeling or state of being wronged.
  • Anh ấy chịu nhiều oan ức trong vụ án đó. (He suffered a great deal of injustice in that case.)
• Kêu oan (verb): To cry out/protest one's innocence (similar to "khiếu oan" but can be less formal, more emotional).
  • Người tù kêu oan trong xà lim. (The prisoner cried out his innocence in the cell.)

Synonyms

• Cáo oan: To present/state a grievance (formal, literary).
• Kêu oan: To cry out against injustice/to protest one's innocence.
• Phản đối bất công: To protest an injustice.

Related Phrases

• Khiếu oan thưa kiện: To appeal for justice and file lawsuits (describes the full process of seeking legal redress).
  • Hành trình khiếu oan thưa kiện của họ kéo dài cả thập kỷ. (Their journey of appealing for justice and filing lawsuits lasted a whole decade.)

Related Idioms

• Oan Thị Kính: Derived from a famous Vietnamese folk play about a profoundly wronged woman. Used to describe a case of extreme and tragic injustice.
  • Số phận của cô ấy như một Oan Thị Kính thời hiện đại. (Her fate is like a modern-day Oan Thị Kính [a tale of extreme injustice].)

1. Request attention of the authorities to an injusttice, claim one's innocence