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断章取义

duàn zhāng qǔ yì

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 4-character word Traditional 斷章取義

断章取义 (duàn zhāng qǔ yì) means "to quote out of context". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 断章取义 means

1. idiomto quote out of context

The characters in 断章取义

• 断duànto break; to snap; to cut off
• 章zhāngchapter; section; clause
• 取qǔto take; to get; to choose
• 义yìjustice; righteousness; meaning

Example sentences

• 媒体对他所说的话断章取义并发展到无法控制的地步了。
  Méitǐ duì tā suǒ shuō dehuà duànzhāngqǔyì bìng fāzhǎn dào wúfǎ kòngzhì de dìbù le.
  Just one part of what he said got picked up by the media and took on a life of its own.

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read duàn zhāng qǔ yì correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.