一言以蔽之

yīyányǐbìzhī
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 to sum up in one phrase (idiom)
  2. 2 in a word; in short
  3. 3 to put it briefly

Examples

Yīyányǐbìzhī, zhè shì yí cì wánměi de yǎnchū.
In a word, this was a flawless performance.
Tā de guāndiǎn hěnduō, yīyányǐbìzhī, jiùshì fǎnduì gǎigé.
He made many points; to sum up, he opposes the reform.

Tips

history
Directly from 论语·为政: 三百一言以蔽之'思无邪' - Confucius boils down all 300 poems of the Shijing into a single phrase (思无邪, 'thoughts without depravity'). The idiom has been used for the same rhetorical move ever since.
register
Formal and literary. Sentence-initial: 一言以蔽之,... introduces the summary. In casual speech, 总而言之 or 简而言之 are more common equivalents.

Stroke Order

yán
zhī