分秒必争
fēn miǎo bì zhēng
every second counts; to make use of every moment
Character by character
分fēn
minute
minute
秒miǎo
second
second
必bì
must
must
争zhēng
fight for
fight for
Example
离火箭发射只剩两个小时，控制中心里人人分秒必争。
With two hours left before the launch, everyone in the control centre is racing against the clock.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
A close cousin of 争分夺秒 (lesson 3-4). 分秒必争 usually stands alone as a comment or slogan (时间紧迫，分秒必争), while 争分夺秒 more often goes before a verb (争分夺秒地抢救).
Learn this in Lesson 181 · HSK 7–9: 流水线上 (On the assembly line)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.
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