Definition

1. Adjective:
   • To be desperately poor; to be in dire financial straits: Describes a state of extreme poverty or financial hardship where one lacks basic necessities.
   • To be broke; to be penniless: A colloquial term for having no money at all.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận dịch, nhiều gia đình rơi vào cảnh túng kiết. (After the epidemic, many families fell into a state of desperate poverty.)
  • Anh ấy thất nghiệp lâu ngày nên giờ đã túng kiết. (He has been unemployed for a long time, so now he is completely broke.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used to emphasize a severe and pressing lack of resources, more intense than simply being short on money (). It implies a crisis situation.

Variants and Related Words

• Túng quẫn (adj): to be in a tight spot; to be in dire straits (financially or situationally).

  • Công ty đang trong tình thế túng quẫn. (The company is in a dire situation.)

• Kiết xác (adj): to be destitute; to be impoverished to the point of physical deterioration.

  • Ông lão sống một mình trong cảnh kiết xác. (The old man lives alone in destitution.)

Synonyms

• Destitute: lacking the means of subsistence.
• Penniless: having no money.
• Impoverished: reduced to poverty.

Related Idioms

• Túng thắt lưng buộc bụng: to be so poor one has to tighten one's belt; to be in severe financial difficulty.

  • Thời kỳ khủng hoảng, dân chúng phải sống túng thắt lưng buộc bụng. (During the crisis, people had to live in severe poverty, tightening their belts.)

• Cùng kiệt: to be utterly destitute; to be at the end of one's resources.

  • Sau chiến tranh, đất nước trở nên cùng kiệt. (After the war, the country became utterly destitute.)