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掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr-dào líng) — self-deception; to deceive oneself by ignoring obvious facts

Definition

A chengyu from a classical story: literally 'covering one's ears while stealing a bell.' It means fooling only yourself by ignoring obvious facts — like thinking that if you can't hear something, no one else can either.

phrase
self-deceptionto deceive oneself by ignoring obvious facts

Examples

  • ，掩耳盗铃。
    Tā xiǎng yǐn mán zhēn xiàng, zhè wán quán shì yǎn ěr-dào líng.
    He wants to hide the truth — that's pure self-deception.
  • ，掩耳盗铃？
    Bù chéng rèn zì jǐ de cuò wù, bú jiù shì yǎn ěr-dào líng ma?
    Refusing to admit your own mistakes isn't that just deceiving yourself?
  • 掩耳盗铃。
    Huí bì wèn tí zhī huì bèi shì wéi yǎn ěr-dào líng de xíng wéi.
    Avoiding the problem will only be seen as self-deception.
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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