自拔

zìbá

verb #16,454

Meanings

1 to free oneself; to extricate oneself from a difficult situation

Characters

to pull out; to extract

Examples

他沉迷于赌博，不能自拔。

Tā chénmí yú dǔbó, bùnéngzìbá.

He was addicted to gambling and couldn't pull himself out.

她陷入了悲伤中无法自拔。

Tā xiànrù le bēishāng zhōng wúfǎ zìbá.

She sank into grief and couldn't free herself from it.

Tips

grammar

自拔 almost always appears in negative patterns: 不能自拔, 无法自拔, 难以自拔. You rarely see it used in a positive sense (i.e. 'he successfully freed himself').

Stroke Order

自 zì

拔 bá