明知故犯

míng zhī gù fàn

to do wrong knowingly

Character by character

明míng
clearly

知zhī
know

故gù
deliberately

犯fàn
offend

他这是明知故犯，这次不能原谅。

He knew it was wrong and did it anyway. This time we can't let it go.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Worse than a mistake: you knew the rule.

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