断章取义
duàn zhāng qǔ yì
to quote out of context
Character by character
断duàn
cut
cut
章zhāng
passage
passage
取qǔ
take
take
义yì
meaning
meaning
Example
他的原话不是这个意思，是媒体断章取义了。
That is not what he meant at all; the media quoted him out of context.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
章 is a section of a text or song. Today it also covers clipped videos and cropped screenshots.
Learn this in Lesson 110 · HSK 7–9: 信息从哪儿来 (Where the news comes from)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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