天昏地暗 (tiān hūn de) — total darkness (literal: sky dim, earth dark); figuratively: chaotic, corrupt, or disastrous situation; dizzy / faint (as in feeling the world spinning)
Definition
A vivid chengyu built from paired images ('sky dim, earth dark'). Used both literally for total darkness and figuratively for chaos or disaster; the dizzy sense adds the idea of the world spinning around the speaker.
idiom
total darkness (literal: sky dim, earth dark)figuratively: chaoticcorruptor disastrous situationdizzy / faint (as in feeling the world spinning)
Examples
- ，天昏地暗，。Bào fēng yǔ lái le, chuāng wài tiān hūn de, shén me dōu kàn bú jiàn.The storm came, outside the window was pitch-dark, and nothing could be seen.
- ，天昏地暗，。Nà duàn shí qī zhèng zhì fǔ bài, shè huì tiān hūn de, bǎi xìng shēng huó kùn kǔ.During that period, politics was corrupt, society was in chaos, and the people lived in hardship.
- ，天昏地暗，。Tā fā shāo dé lì hài, zhī jué de tiān hūn de, lián zhàn dōu zhàn bú zhù.He had a high fever and felt so dizzy that he could hardly stand.
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