Definition

1. Verb:
   • To deter, to dissuade: To take action or use threats to prevent someone from doing something, or to make someone reconsider and abandon a bad intention or action. The purpose is to create fear of consequences.
   • To warn and threaten: To issue a warning accompanied by the implication of severe punishment or negative outcomes if the warned action is carried out.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Chính phủ áp dụng các biện pháp mạnh để răn đe tội phạm. (The government applies strong measures to deter crime.)
  • Câu chuyện đó được kể để răn đe những người có ý định vi phạm luật. (That story is told to dissuade those who intend to break the law.)
  • Cha mẹ thường răn đe con cái về những mối nguy hiểm trên mạng. (Parents often warn their children against the dangers online.)

Advanced Usage

• Used in formal or legal contexts: Often appears in official documents, legal texts, or news about security and social order, describing preventive measures.
  • Bản án nặng có giá trị răn đe đối với những kẻ phạm tội tiềm năng. (A severe sentence has deterrent value for potential offenders.)
• Implies a preventive purpose: The action is not just a punishment for a completed act, but aims to stop the act from happening in the first place.

Variants and Related Words

• Sự răn đe (Noun): The act of deterring or a deterrent measure.
  • Sự răn đe của pháp luật là cần thiết. (The deterrence of the law is necessary.)
• Lực lượng răn đe (Noun Phrase): Deterrent force (often military).
  • Quốc gia đó phát triển lực lượng răn đe hạt nhân. (That country is developing a nuclear deterrent force.)
• Răn (Verb): To advise, to exhort (often moral lessons). Can be a component of "răn đe" but is softer and more about teaching.
• Đe dọa (Verb): To threaten. While related, "đe dọa" focuses more on the act of threatening itself, whereas "răn đe" emphasizes the of preventing action through that threat.

Synonyms

• Ngăn chặn: To prevent, to stop. (Focuses on the blocking action itself).
• Cảnh cáo: To warn, to admonish. (Often an official warning, may be a step before punishment, but slightly less severe in implication than "răn đe").
• Làm nản lòng: To discourage. (More general, not necessarily involving threats).

Related Phrases / Idioms

• Răn đe là chính, trừng trị là phụ: (Idiomatic) Deterrence is primary, punishment is secondary. This phrase highlights the preventive philosophy behind "răn đe".
• Dùng uy để răn đe: To use authority to deter.

1. Deter
   • Lực lượng răn đe
     Deterrent forces