rờ rẫm
Definition
- 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.