Definition

1. Verb:
   • To grope; to fumble: To use one's hands to feel or search for something in a dark or obscured place, without the aid of sight.
   • To move or proceed hesitantly by feeling one's way: To advance cautiously in darkness or unfamiliarity by touching and feeling the surroundings.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Trời tối đen, tôi phải rờ rẫm tìm công tắc đèn. (It was pitch black, I had to grope for the light switch.)
  • Ông ấy rờ rẫm dọc theo bức tường để tìm lối ra. (He felt his way along the wall to find the exit.)
  • Đừng rờ rẫm trong bóng tối như vậy, nguy hiểm lắm. (Don't fumble around in the dark like that, it's very dangerous.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often implies a sense of uncertainty, blindness (literal or figurative), and a lack of clear direction or visibility.
• It can be used metaphorically to describe attempting to understand a complex or unclear situation without sufficient information.
  • Anh ấy đang rờ rẫm tìm hướng giải quyết cho vấn đề. (He is groping for a solution to the problem.)

Variants and Related Words

• Rờ (v): To touch lightly with the hand.
  • Đứa bé rờ vào mặt mẹ. (The child touched her mother's face.)
• Mò mẫm (v): To grope around; to search blindly. A close synonym with a very similar meaning and usage.

Synonyms

• Grope: To feel about or search blindly with the hands.
• Fumble: To use the hands clumsily while doing or searching for something.
• Feel one's way: To proceed cautiously by touch or trial.

Related Idioms

• While "rờ rẫm" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, it is conceptually related to the idiom "mò kim đáy bể" (to look for a needle in a haystack), which describes an extremely difficult search, often done with little guidance.