thoát nạn
Definition
- Verb phrase:
- To escape danger / to survive a disaster: The primary meaning of "thoát nạn" is to successfully get away from a perilous situation, accident, or catastrophe without being harmed or killed.
- To get out of a predicament / to extricate oneself from a bind: Figuratively, it means to manage to free oneself from a difficult, troublesome, or embarrassing situation.
Usage Examples
- Verb phrase:
- Tất cả hành khách đã thoát nạn sau vụ rơi máy bay một cách kỳ diệu. (All passengers miraculously survived the plane crash.)
- Cô ấy thoát nạn trong gang tấc khi chiếc xe tải lao tới. (She had a narrow escape when the truck came speeding.)
- Nhờ có luật sư giỏi, công ty đã thoát nạn khỏi vụ kiện. (Thanks to a good lawyer, the company got out of the lawsuit.)
Advanced Usage
- "thoát nạn an toàn": to escape safely/unscathed.
- Mặc dù nhà cháy rụi, cả gia đình đã thoát nạn an toàn. (Even though the house burned down, the whole family escaped safely.)
Variants and Related Words
Thoát hiểm (v): to escape from a dangerous situation (often used in contexts like fire, building evacuation).
- Cửa thoát hiểm ở cuối hành lang. (The emergency exit is at the end of the corridor.)
Thoát chết (v): to escape death, to have a close brush with death.
- Bệnh nhân đã thoát chết trong ca mổ nguy kịch. (The patient escaped death during the critical surgery.)
Synonyms
- To survive: to continue to live after a dangerous event.
- To escape: to get free from danger or confinement.
- To have a close call / a narrow escape: to barely avoid danger or disaster.
Related Idioms
Thoát nạn như cởi trói: to escape a predicament as if being untied; to feel immense relief after getting out of a bind.
- Khi dự án kết thúc, anh ấy cảm thấy thoát nạn như cởi trói. (When the project ended, he felt as if a great weight had been lifted.)
Thoát nạn vỏ dưa, gặp nạn vỏ dừa: (lit. to escape the melon's rind only to meet the coconut's shell) to get out of one trouble and immediately fall into another, similar one.
- Anh ta vừa trả nợ xong thì bị mất việc, đúng là thoát nạn vỏ dưa, gặp nạn vỏ dừa. (He just paid off his debt and then lost his job; it's like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.)