绞尽脑汁 (jiǎo jìn nǎo zhī) — to rack one's brains; to think hard; to cudgel one's brains

Definition

Examples

• 为了解决这个技术难题，整个团队绞尽脑汁想了三天三夜。
  Wèi le jiě jué zhè ge jì shù nán tí, zhěng gè tuán duì jiǎo jìn nǎo zhī xiǎng le sān tiān sān yè.
  To solve this technical problem, the entire team racked their brains for three days and nights.
• 他绞尽脑汁写出了一篇非常精彩的论文。
  Tā jiǎo jìn nǎo zhī xiě chū le yì piān fēi cháng jīng cǎi de lùn wén.
  He racked his brains and wrote a brilliant paper.
• 老师的问题太刁钻了，学生们个个绞尽脑汁还是答不上来。
  Lǎo shī de wèn tí tài diāo zuān le, xué shēng men gè gè jiǎo jìn nǎo zhī hái shì dá bú shàng lái.
  The teacher's question was so tricky that every student racked their brains and still couldn't answer.