quẫn bách
Definition
- Adjective:
- To be in dire straits / to be in extreme difficulty: Describes a state of severe hardship, distress, or poverty where one feels trapped with no apparent solution.
- To be hard up / to be in a tight spot: A state of financial or situational difficulty that is pressing and constricting.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Gia đình anh ấy đang rơi vào cảnh quẫn bách. (His family has fallen into dire straits.)
- Công ty lâm vào tình thế quẫn bách về tài chính. (The company found itself in a financially tight spot.)
- Sau trận dịch, nhiều người dân sống trong quẫn bách. (After the epidemic, many people lived in extreme hardship.)
Advanced Usage
- Used formally to describe severe, often chronic, socio-economic or situational distress.
- Những chính sách hỗ trợ cho các hộ gia đình quẫn bách. (Support policies for households in severe distress.)
Variants and Related Words
- Quẫn (adj): Distressed, cornered. Often used in a similar, though sometimes slightly less intense, context.
- Anh ta cảm thấy bế tắc và quẫn trí. (He felt stuck and mentally distressed.)
Synonyms
- Destitute: Lacking basic necessities of life.
- Impoverished: Reduced to poverty.
- Hard-pressed: Experiencing severe difficulty or pressure.
Related Idioms
- Đường cùng quẫn bách: To be at the end of one's rope, in a desperate situation.
- Họ đã đến bước đường cùng quẫn bách. (They have reached a point of desperate straits.)
- Cùng quẫn: A common shortened form meaning utterly destitute or desperate.
- Cuộc sống cùng quẫn. (A life of utter destitution.)
-
to be hand up
