回天无力 (huí tiān wú lì) — unable to reverse a hopeless situation; powerless to save the day

Definition

A four-character idiom meaning 'powerless to turn things around' in an already hopeless situation. More literary and final than simple 'cannot' — implies a desperate, last-ditch effort that has failed.

verb
unable to reverse a hopeless situationpowerless to save the day

Examples

  • ，，回天无力。
    Gōng sī yǐ jīng fù zhài lěi lěi, guǎn lǐ céng suī rán nǔ lì bǔ jiù, dàn zhōng jiū huí tiān wú lì.
    The company was already deep in debt; management tried hard to save it but ultimately could not turn things around.
  • ，回天无力。
    Bìng qíng dào le zhè ge jiē duàn, zài xiān jìn de yī liáo shǒu duàn yě huí tiān wú lì le.
    At this stage of the illness, even the most advanced medical treatment is powerless.
  • ，回天无力。
    Miàn duì zhè chǎng zāi nàn, rèn hé gè rén de nǔ lì dōu xiǎn de huí tiān wú lì.
    Facing this disaster, any individual effort seems futile.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

回天reverse the heavens
回huíreverse天tiānheaven
动宾Verb + object
无力have no power
无wúlack力lìpower
动宾Verb + object

回天 means reversing the heavens, and 无力 means having no power, so the idea is being unable to save a hopeless situation.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

回 comes from a drawing of a spiral, showing something turning around.

Open 回 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

力 is drawn as either an arm bending out from the side of the body or a wooden plough.

Open 力 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.