bull-in-a-china-shop
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Someone who causes damage or chaos due to carelessness
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Người gây ra thiệt hại hoặc hỗn loạn do bất cẩn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: an image of a bull loose in a delicate shop
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He's like a bull-in-a-china-shop, always breaking things
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “bull-in-a-china-shop” mean?
Someone who causes damage or chaos due to carelessness Literally: an image of a bull loose in a delicate shop
Is “bull-in-a-china-shop” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.