ngắc ngoải
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- On the verge of death, dying, at death's door: Describes a state of being barely alive, with life flickering weakly, often in the final moments before death.
- Extremely weak or exhausted (figurative): Can be used metaphorically to describe something (like a machine, system, or project) that is barely functioning or about to fail completely.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Con chim bị thương nằm ngắc ngoải trên mặt đất. (The injured bird lay dying on the ground.)
- Sau trận ốm nặng, ông ấy chỉ còn ngắc ngoải. (After the serious illness, he was barely clinging to life.)
- Chiếc xe máy cũ của tôi chạy được vài mét rồi lại ngắc ngoải. (My old motorbike runs for a few meters and then sputters/dies.)
Advanced Usage
- "ngắc ngoải chờ chết": to be lingering, waiting for death.
- Bệnh nhân đang ngắc ngoải chờ chết trên giường bệnh. (The patient is lingering, waiting for death on the sickbed.)
- "thoi thóp ngắc ngoải": a reinforcing phrase emphasizing the feeble, flickering state of being alive.
- Ngọn lửa hy vọng chỉ còn thoi thóp ngắc ngoải. (The flame of hope is just flickering weakly.)
Variants and Related Words
- Hấp hối (verb): to be in the throes of death, to be dying (more formal/medical term).
- Thoi thóp (adjective/adverb): breathing faintly, gasping; describes weak, intermittent signs of life or function.
- Tắt thở (verb): to stop breathing, to die.
Synonyms
- Sắp chết: about to die.
- Hấp hối: in the death throes, dying.
- Thập tử nhất sinh: having nine chances of dying against one of surviving (idiom for extreme danger).
Related Idioms
- "Chết đuối vớ được cọc": (like) a drowning man clutching at a straw. This idiom shares the connotation of being in a desperate, near-fatal situation but finding a last-minute reprieve, unlike the definitive state of "ngắc ngoải".
- "Tàn hơi tắt thở": on one's last breath, breathing one's last. This is very close in meaning to "ngắc ngoải".
- Be at death's door, be at the point of death