vái trời
Definition
- Verb phrase:
- To pray desperately to heaven/to the sky: A desperate, often improvised, act of prayer or supplication directed skyward, typically performed in a moment of extreme distress, helplessness, or urgent need, invoking a higher power (heaven, fate, or gods) for help or intervention.
- To beseech fate: To make a fervent, last-resort appeal to the forces of destiny or fortune when all human solutions seem exhausted.
Usage Examples
- Verb phrase:
- Trong cơn hoạn nạn, bà cụ chỉ biết vái trời cầu mong an toàn. (In the disaster, the old woman could only pray desperately to heaven, hoping for safety.)
- Hết cách rồi, giờ chỉ còn biết vái trời thôi. (All options are exhausted; now we can only beseech fate.)
- Nó vái trời cho mình thi đậu. (He prayed desperately to the sky for himself to pass the exam.)
Advanced Usage
- The phrase often implies a situation where the person feels they have no control and no other recourse but to appeal to a supernatural or abstract higher authority.
- It can be used rhetorically or sarcastically to express that a situation is hopeless or that someone's hopes are unrealistic.
Variants and Related Words
- Vái (v): To bow with hands clasped, a gesture of worship, prayer, or deep respect, often directed at altars, Buddha, or ancestors.
- Vái Phật (v): To pray to Buddha.
- Vái lạy (v): To bow and prostrate oneself in worship or supplication.
Synonyms
- To implore heaven: To beg heaven earnestly.
- To make a desperate plea: To make an urgent and hopeless appeal.
- To pray as a last resort: To pray when all else has failed.
Related Idioms
- Cóc vái trời: Literally "a toad praying to heaven"; an idiom describing someone of lowly status or position vainly seeking help from a much higher, unreachable authority. It implies the futility of the appeal.
- Hắn ta như cóc vái trời, chẳng ai đoái hoài. (He is like a toad praying to heaven; no one pays him any attention.)