大动干戈

大動干戈
dàdòng-gāngē
idiom #30,925

Meanings

  1. 1 lit. to move shields and spears in a big way; to go to war
  2. 2 to make a huge fuss; to mobilise disproportionate effort

Examples

HSK 3
Wèile yī gè cuòzì jiù dàdòng-gāngē, méi bìyào.
There's no need to go to war over one typo.
HSK 6
Zhè diǎn xiǎoshì bùzhídé dàdòng-gāngē.
This minor matter isn't worth making such a huge fuss over.

Tips

history
《论语·季氏》 warns against "plotting to move shields and spears within the state" - Confucius's critique of rulers who let internal strife escalate to war. Modern use has softened to "overreacting".
culture
干戈 literally names two ancient weapons (shield and dagger-axe) - together they serve as a synecdoche for "warfare" throughout classical Chinese.

Stroke Order

dòng
gān