nghiêng đồng đổ nước ra sông, vắt đất ra nước!
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To make a futile effort
Literally: Tilt the field to pour water into the river, squeeze the land into the water
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Anh ấy cố gắng sửa chữa máy tính cũ, nghiêng đồng đổ nước ra sông, vắt đất ra nước!He tried to fix the old computer, but it was a futile effort
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Thành ngữ Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31); 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 “nghiêng đồng đổ nước ra sông, vắt đất ra nước!” mean?
To make a futile effort Literally: Tilt the field to pour water into the river, squeeze the land into the water
Is “nghiêng đồng đổ nước ra sông, vắt đất ra nước!” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.