千篇一律

qiānpiānyīlǜ
idiom #24,635

Meanings

  1. 1 all the same
  2. 2 monotonously uniform
  3. 3 stereotyped and repetitive
  4. 4 cookie-cutter

Examples

Tā de zuòwén qiānpiān yīlǜ, lǎoshī pīpíng tā quēfá chuàngyì.
His essays were all the same, and the teacher criticized him for lacking creativity.
Zhè tiáo jiē de diànpù qiānpiān yīlǜ, méiyǒu shénme tèsè.
The shops on this street are all cookie-cutter, with nothing distinctive about them.

Tips

memory
(a thousand pieces of writing) + 一律 (one rule/pattern): imagine writing a thousand essays and they all follow the exact same template — perfectly captures the sense of dull uniformity.

Stroke Order

qiān
piān