大而化之

dà'ér-huàzhī
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 careless; sloppy; handling things in a vague, broad-brush way
  2. 2 to enlarge oneself and be transformed; to reach sagehood

Examples

HSK 4
Tā zuòshì dà'ér-huàzhī, xìjié zǒngshì chū wèntí.
He handles things with a broad brush - the details always go wrong.
HSK 6
Zhè zhǒng dà'ér-huàzhī de guǎnlǐ fāngshì bù shìhé jīngmì gōngzuò.
This loose style of management is unsuited to precision work.

Tips

history
《孟子·尽心下》 lists stages of moral achievement - "to be good, to be trusted, to be beautiful, to be great, to be great and transformed (大而化之) is called sagehood." Modern usage has drifted almost inside-out from the Mencian original.
mistakes
Don't reach for the Mencian "sagehood" meaning in modern Chinese - 99% of current use is the negative "sloppy, vague, careless". The classical sense is a footnote, not a usage.

Stroke Order

ér
huà
zhī