Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Lost, helpless, at a loss: Describes a state of being completely stuck, unable to proceed or find a solution, often due to a difficult or embarrassing situation.
   • Forced to surrender, compelled to give up: Indicates being cornered or defeated, having no choice but to yield or admit inability.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Trước bài toán khó đó, cậu ấy hoàn toàn thúc thủ. (Faced with that difficult problem, he was completely at a loss.)
  • Đối thủ quá mạnh, đội chúng tôi đành thúc thủ. (The opponent was too strong; our team had no choice but to surrender.)
  • Tình thế bế tắc khiến họ rơi vào trạng thái thúc thủ. (The deadlock situation forced them into a state of helplessness.)

Advanced Usage

• "thúc thủ trước...": to be helpless/surrender before (a challenge, a person).
  • Anh ta đã phải thúc thủ trước sự thật hiển nhiên. (He had to surrender before the obvious truth.)
• "ở thế thúc thủ": to be in a helpless/defeated position.
  • Công ty đang ở thế thúc thủ và cần một giải pháp mới. (The company is in a helpless position and needs a new solution.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bó tay (idiomatic verb phrase): to be helpless, to give up (often used interchangeably in similar contexts of inability).
  • Với vấn đề này, tôi thực sự bó tay. (With this problem, I am truly helpless.)
• Bất lực (adjective): powerless, incapable.
  • Cảm giác bất lực trước hoàn cảnh thật tồi tệ. (The feeling of powerlessness in the face of circumstance is terrible.)

Synonyms

• Tuyệt vọng (adj): desperate, in despair (emphasizes the emotional state of hopelessness).
• Đầu hàng (verb): to surrender, to capitulate (emphasizes the act of giving up).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• "Thúc thủ vô cùng": Extremely helpless, utterly at a loss.
  • Mất hết chứng cứ, luật sư thúc thủ vô cùng. (Having lost all evidence, the lawyer was utterly at a loss.)
• "Đành phải thúc thủ": To have no choice but to surrender/give up.
  • Sau nhiều lần thất bại, họ đành phải thúc thủ. (After many failures, they had no choice but to give up.)

adj

1. lost, to fall (into); to surrender