息事宁人
xī shì níng rén
to smooth things over; to settle a dispute by giving way
Character by character
息xī
stop
stop
事shì
trouble
trouble
宁níng
calm
calm
人rén
people
people
Example
为了息事宁人，店家主动退了钱，还送了一张优惠券。
To smooth things over, the shop refunded the money unasked and threw in a voucher.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
Neutral when it means calming a quarrel; critical when the peace is bought at the cost of right and wrong, as people said of the first ruling: 不能为了息事宁人而不分是非.
Learn this in Lesson 121 · HSK 7–9: 电梯劝烟案 (Court report: the lift smoking case)
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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