操戈入室 — “Wield a spear and enter the room; attack with a spear in the opponent's house”
操戈入室 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to understand an opponent's arguments or methods deeply and then use their own points to refute them; to turn an adversary's words or logic against them”. Literally, “Wield a spear and enter the room; attack with a spear in the opponent's house”.
操戈入室 Pronunciation and Pinyin
操戈入室 Character Breakdown
Stroke OrderExample Sentence with 操戈入室
Origin and Story of 操戈入室
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan studied under Kong Rong, who held him in high regard and praised him for truly grasping his scholarship.
Zheng Xuan wrote critiques titled "Mo Shou" and "Fei Ji," specifically targeting scholar He Xiu's works, such as "Gongyang Mo Shou" and "Zuoshi Gaohuang." In his writings, Zheng Xuan effectively pinpointed the weaknesses and inconsistencies within He Xiu's own arguments.
Upon reading Zheng Xuan's critiques, He Xiu sighed in admiration, saying, "Zheng Xuan has entered my house and taken up my own spear to fight me!" This idiom later came to describe using an opponent's own reasoning or methods to defeat them.
Idioms Related to 操戈入室
Synonyms of 操戈入室
More idioms starting with 操
- cāo操zhī之guò过qiè切act with undue haste
- cāo操zhī之guò过jí急act with undue haste
- cāo操zhī之guò过jī激act too drastically
- cāo操zhī之guò过cù蹙act with undue haste
- cāo操dāo刀shāng伤jǐn锦incompetent for a critical role
- cāo操dāo刀zhì制jǐn锦take up an official post
- cāo操dāo刀bì必gē割act decisively and promptly
- cāo操qiè切cóng从shì事act too hastily
- cāo操qí奇jì计yíng赢hoard rare goods for huge profit
- cāo操qí奇zhú逐yíng赢hoard goods for exorbitant profit
- cāo操bì必shèng胜zhī之quàn券To be certain of victory
- cāo操gē戈tóng同shì室internal strife
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Open the tool →Questions about 操戈入室
What does 操戈入室 mean?
操戈入室 (cāo gē rù shì) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to understand an opponent's arguments or methods deeply and then use their own points to refute them; to turn an adversary's words or logic against them”.
How do you pronounce 操戈入室?
操戈入室 is pronounced cāo gē rù shì in Mandarin Chinese.
What does 操戈入室 literally mean?
Literally, 操戈入室 means “Wield a spear and enter the room; attack with a spear in the opponent's house”. It is used to mean “to understand an opponent's arguments or methods deeply and then use their own points to refute them; to turn an adversary's words or logic against them”.
Where does 操戈入室 come from?
操戈入室 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
What is the Chinese definition of 操戈入室?
比喻深入了解对方，找出其纰漏，又以对方的论点来批驳对方。