vơ vất
Definition
- Adjective:
- Aimless, drifting, or rootless: Describes a state of living without stability, direction, or a permanent home, often implying hardship and uncertainty.
- Precarious or hand-to-mouth: Refers to an insecure existence where one barely manages to meet basic needs from day to day.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Cuộc sống vơ vất của những người nhập cư. (The precarious life of immigrants.)
- Anh ấy sống vơ vất qua ngày. (He lives a hand-to-mouth existence.)
- Cô ấy cảm thấy vơ vất, không có chỗ dựa. (She feels adrift, without any support.)
Advanced Usage
- The term often carries a melancholic or sympathetic tone, emphasizing the lack of anchor, stability, or purpose in one's life circumstances.
Variants and Related Words
- Vất vơ: An interchangeable variant with the same meaning as , also describing a drifting, unstable life.
Synonyms
- Aimless: Without purpose or direction.
- Precarious: Not securely held or in position; dangerously likely to fall or collapse. (Used for situations)
- Hand-to-mouth: Using all of one's income for basic needs, with no security.
- Rootless: Having no settled home or social ties.
Related Idioms
- Sống vơ vất: To live a precarious, unstable, or drifting life.
- Sau trận lụt, nhiều gia đình phải sống vơ vất. (After the flood, many families had to live a precarious life.)