坐以待毙
zuò yǐ dài bì
to sit and wait for death; to do nothing in the face of danger
Character by character
坐zuò
sit
sit
以yǐ
and
and
待dài
await
await
毙bì
death
death
Example
公司订单越来越少，老板说不能坐以待毙，决定转型做网上销售。
With orders drying up, the boss said they could not just sit there and wait to go under, and decided to switch to selling online.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
Almost always negated or contrasted, to justify acting: 不能坐以待毙, 与其坐以待毙，不如…. 毙 means to die; in modern Chinese it also means to shoot dead.
Learn this in Lesson 156 · HSK 7–9: 与癌共存 (Living with cancer)
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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