thục mạng
Definition
- Adverb:
- Desperately, recklessly, with all one's might: Used to describe an action performed with extreme, often frantic, effort, disregarding personal safety or well-being. It implies a do-or-die, life-risking intensity.
- For dear life: A common English idiom that captures the sense of acting with extreme urgency to escape danger or achieve a goal.
Usage Examples
- Adverb:
- Hai đứa trẻ chạy thục mạng. (The two children ran for dear life.)
- Hắn đánh nhau thục mạng với tên cướp. (He fought the robber desperately, with no regard for his own safety.)
- Cô ấy làm việc thục mạng để kiếm tiền. (She worked her fingers to the bone to earn money.)
Advanced Usage
- The term often carries a slightly vulgar or very colloquial tone, emphasizing raw, unrestrained effort, sometimes to a foolish degree. It is frequently used in dramatic narratives.
Variants and Related Words
- Thục sinh (adj): A more formal, literary term meaning "lifeless" or "inert," but it is not a direct synonym and is used in different contexts (e.g., describing a lifeless body).
Synonyms
- Desperately: In a way that shows despair or extreme urgency.
- Recklessly: Without regard for danger or consequences.
- Frantically: In a hurried, excited, or chaotic manner.
- With all one's might: Using all of one's strength and power.
Related Idioms
- For dear life: The primary English equivalent idiom.
- They held on for dear life.
- Like there's no tomorrow: Acting with extreme haste or intensity.
- Tooth and nail: Fighting or striving with great determination and ferocity.