tối tăm

Căn phòng tối tăm không có cửa sổ.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Dark / Gloomy: Describes a place or space with very little or no light, making it difficult to see.
   • Obscure / Hopeless: Describes a situation, life, or future that is bleak, without clarity, or lacking in hope and prospects.
   • Confused / Dizzy: Describes a state of mental confusion, disorientation, or feeling dazed, often from shock or overwork.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Căn hầm rất tối tăm và ẩm ướt. (The basement is very dark and damp.)
  • Anh ấy cảm thấy tương lai thật tối tăm. (He feels the future is very bleak.)
  • Làm việc 12 tiếng liền khiến tôi tối tăm mặt mũi. (Working for 12 hours straight made me feel dizzy and disoriented.)

Advanced Usage

• "tối tăm mặt mũi": An idiom meaning to be dazed, disoriented, or overwhelmed (often from physical strain or shock).
  • Cú ngã khiến nó tối tăm mặt mũi. (The fall left him dazed.)

Variants and Related Words

• Tối (adj): dark. A simpler, more common word for lack of light.

  • Trời tối rồi. (It's dark now.)

• U tối (adj): ignorant, benighted; can also mean dark and gloomy.

  • Nhận thức u tối. (Ignorant perception.)

Synonyms

• Dark: lacking light.
• Gloomy: dim and depressing.
• Bleak: lacking hope.
• Obscure: unknown or unclear.
• Dazed: stunned or confused.

Related Idioms

• Tối tăm mặt mũi: (as above) to be dazed and confused.
• Đường cùng tối tăm: a hopeless dead end or impasse.
  • Công ty đang ở đường cùng tối tăm. (The company is in a hopeless dead end.)