Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To be reduced to ashes: To be completely burned, leaving only ashes; to be utterly destroyed by fire.
   • To be completely ruined or lost: Used figuratively to describe something (like a fortune, career, or effort) being completely destroyed or coming to nothing, as if burned away.

Usage Examples

• Literal meaning (to be reduced to ashes):

  • Ngôi nhà ra tro sau trận hỏa hoạn. (The house was reduced to ashes after the fire.)
  • Chỉ một đêm, cả khu rừng ra tro. (In just one night, the entire forest was reduced to ashes.)

• Figurative meaning (to be completely ruined):

  • Cơ nghiệp cả đời của ông ấy đã ra tro. (His lifelong fortune was completely ruined.)
  • Bao nhiêu kế hoạch, cuối cùng cũng ra tro. (So many plans, in the end, all came to nothing.)

Advanced Usage

• "ra tro" as a state of complete destruction: Emphasizes a final, irreversible state of loss, often due to a sudden calamity.
  • Sau vụ phá sản, mọi thứ đã ra tro. (After the bankruptcy, everything was lost.)

Variants and Related Words

• Thành tro (verb phrase): To turn into ashes. This is a very close synonym, often used interchangeably with "ra tro".
  • Tài liệu quý đã thành tro. (The precious documents turned to ashes.)
• Cháy rụi (verb): To burn down completely. Focuses more on the burning action itself.
  • Căn nhà cháy rụi. (The house burned down completely.)
• Tiêu tan (verb): To vanish, to dissipate. Used for figurative loss, but not necessarily by fire.
  • Hy vọng của anh ấy tiêu tan. (His hopes vanished.)

Synonyms

• Bị thiêu rụi: To be burned down.
• Bị phá hủy hoàn toàn: To be completely destroyed.
• Mất trắng: To lose everything (colloquial, often for financial loss).

Related Idioms

• "Cơ nghiệp ra tro": A set phrase meaning a fortune/life's work is completely ruined.
  • Một quyết định sai lầm có thể khiến cơ nghiệp ra tro. (One wrong decision can reduce a fortune to ashes.)
• "Ra mây về khói": (To go as clouds, return as smoke) An idiom meaning to leave with nothing, to achieve nothing. It shares the connotation of complete loss with the figurative use of "ra tro".

1. Be reduced to ashes
   • Ngôi nhà ra tro
     The house was reduced to ashes