Definition

1. Verb:
   • To lose one's integrity; to compromise one's moral principles: "khuất tiết" describes the act of abandoning or failing to maintain one's upright character, moral steadfastness, or personal integrity, especially under pressure or for personal gain. It implies a fall from a previously held standard of virtue.

Usage

• This word is archaic (cũ) and is primarily found in historical, literary, or formal moralistic contexts. It is used to criticize someone for betraying their principles.
• It is a transitive verb and can be used with an object (e.g., oneself) or in a passive sense.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Ông ấy đã khuất tiết trước những lời dụ dỗ của kẻ thù. (He compromised his integrity in the face of the enemy's enticements.)
  • Làm quan thanh liêm, ông ta thề sẽ không bao giờ khuất tiết. (As an honest official, he vowed never to forsake his uprightness.)
  • Bị tra tấn dã man, nhưng người chiến sĩ ấy quyết không khuất tiết. (Despite being brutally tortured, that soldier was determined not to lose his moral steadfastness.)

Advanced Usage

• "khuất tiết trước...": to lose one's integrity before/in the face of (something, e.g., threats, temptation).
  • Kẻ hèn nhát thường dễ khuất tiết trước quyền lực. (Cowards often easily compromise their principles before power.)
• Used in a nominalized form to describe the state or act: sự khuất tiết (the act/state of losing integrity).
  • Sự khuất tiết của hắn khiến mọi người khinh bỉ. (His loss of integrity made everyone despise him.)

Variants and Related Words

• Mất tiết (archaic): A near-synonym meaning to lose one's chastity or moral purity. While "khuất tiết" focuses more on integrity and steadfastness, "mất tiết" historically often had a stronger connotation related to chastity, especially for women.
• Phản bội lý tưởng: to betray one's ideals (a modern, more general phrase).
• Thỏa hiệp nguyên tắc: to compromise one's principles (a modern, neutral-to-negative phrase).

Synonyms

• Đánh mất danh tiết (archaic): to lose one's good name/reputation.
• Không giữ được tiết tháo (archaic): to fail to maintain one's moral integrity (a descriptive phrase closely matching the traditional definition).
• Bội tín (literary): to be unfaithful, to break faith (can apply to promises or loyalty).

Related Idioms

• "Giàu sang không thể dâm, bần tiện không thể di, uy vũ không thể khuất": A classical Confucian saying meaning "Wealth and rank cannot lead to licentiousness; poverty and low status cannot lead to shifting principles; power and force cannot lead to submission/bending (of one's will)." The word "khuất" here shares the same root as in "khuất tiết," meaning to bend, to submit, to yield.

1. (cũ) Give up one's uprightness