不经意 (bù jīng yì) — not paying attention; carelessly; by accident; inadvertently
Definition
不经意 means 'inadvertently / without paying attention' — a neutral, soft adverbial phrase. It's milder than 胡乱 ('recklessly') and less self-critical than 粗心大意 ('carelessly negligent').
phrase
not paying attentioncarelesslyby accidentinadvertently
Examples
- 不经意。Tā bù jīng yì dì shuō cuò le huà.He said the wrong thing without paying attention.
- 不经意，。bù jīng yì Jiān, wǒ kàn dào le tā de xiào róng.Inadvertently, I caught sight of her smile.
- 不经意。Tā bù jīng yì dì fā xiàn le wèn tí de dá àn.She accidentally discovered the answer to the problem.
Appears in
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