khuất tiết

Thân thiện

Một vị quan cũ không khuất tiết trước lời dụ dỗ của kẻ thù.

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.

Học thuật

1. (cũ) Give up one's uprightness