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全力以赴 (quán lì yǐ fù) — to go all out, to spare no effort, to make an all-out effort

Definition

A chengyu meaning 'to go all out' — focuses on committing 100% of your energy to one goal. Stronger than 尽力 ('do one's best'); compare 竭尽全力 (near-synonym, same intensity).

phrase
to go all outto spare no effortto make an all-out effort

Examples

  • ，全力以赴。
    Wèi le kǎo shàng lǐ xiǎng de dà xué, tā quán lì yǐ fù zhǔn bèi le yì nián.
    He prepared for a whole year with all his effort in order to get into his dream university.
  • ，全力以赴。
    Bǐ sài dào le zuì hòu guān tóu, duì yuán men quán lì yǐ fù zhēng qǔ shèng lì.
    At the final moment of the game, the team members went all out to fight for victory.
  • 全力以赴，。
    Gōng sī shàng xià quán lì yǐ fù, zhōng yú àn shí wán chéng le xiàng mù.
    The whole company made an all-out effort and finally completed the project on time.

Origin

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape puts 入 together with 玉 to show a whole piece of jade, so it means complete or whole.

Open 全 →

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 →

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

The shape came from a drawing of a person carrying something; in 以, part of that person is still visible on the right.

Open 以 →

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
走走zǒurunning
Sound part声符shēngfú
卜
卜bǔ赴fù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

赴 pairs 走, meaning running, with 卜, which gives the sound.

Open 赴 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Idioms & Set PhrasesSuccess & Failure

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