Definition

1. Verb:
   • To grope about for a long time; to fumble around: To search or feel around slowly, carefully, and often blindly or with great difficulty over an extended period, due to a lack of knowledge, light, or clear direction.
   • To search laboriously; to try to find one's way painstakingly: To attempt to discover or understand something through persistent, tentative, and often unguided effort.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Không biết đường, phải mò mẫm mãi. (Not knowing the way, one has to grope about for a long time.)
  • Cậu ấy mò mẫm tìm công tắc đèn trong bóng tối. (He fumbled around in the dark, searching for the light switch.)
  • Họ mò mẫm tìm ra giải pháp cho vấn đề kỹ thuật. (They painstakingly searched for a solution to the technical problem.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often implies a process that is slow, uncertain, and requires patience due to a lack of clear information or guidance. It can be used for both physical searching and metaphorical exploration, such as learning a new skill or solving a complex problem.

Variants and Related Words

• Mò (v): To grope, to feel for. Often used for a more general or shorter act of searching by touch.
  • Mò cá dưới khe đá. (To grope for fish in the rock crevices.)
• Tìm mò (v): To search by groping or investigating laboriously.
  • Tìm mò tài liệu trong thư viện. (To laboriously search for documents in the library.)

Synonyms

• Grope: To feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands.
• Fumble: To use the hands clumsily while doing or searching for something.
• Search painstakingly: To look for something with diligent and careful effort.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Mò mẫm như mò kim đáy bể: To grope around like searching for a needle in a haystack; to describe an extremely difficult and nearly hopeless search.
  • Tìm lại chiếc nhẫn ấy ở bãi biển chẳng khác nào mò mẫm như mò kim đáy bể. (Looking for that ring on the beach is like groping around for a needle in a haystack.)

1. Grope about for a long time, look for a long time
   • Không biết đường, phải mò mẫm mãi
     To have to look for one's way for a long time, not knowing one's ways about