反其道而行之

fǎnqídàoérxíngzhī

idiom #35,580

Meanings

1 to do exactly the opposite
2 to act in a diametrically opposed way
3 to take the contrary approach

Characters

Examples

别人都涨价，他却反其道而行之，搞起了打折。

Biérén dōu zhǎngjià, tā què fǎnqídàoérxíngzhī, gǎo qǐ le dǎzhé.

While everyone else raised prices, he did the opposite and started discounting.

如果常规方法没用，不妨反其道而行之。

Rúguǒ chángguī fāngfǎ méi yòng, bùfáng fǎnqídàoérxíngzhī.

If the conventional approach isn't working, why not try the opposite.

导演反其道而行之，把悲剧拍成了喜剧。

Dǎoyǎn fǎnqídàoérxíngzhī, bǎ bēijù pāi chéng le xǐjù.

The director went against the grain and turned the tragedy into a comedy.

Tips

grammar

Six-character idiom often used as a verb phrase. The 之 acts as the object pronoun referring back to the convention being reversed.

history

Echoes a passage in 《史记·淮阴侯列传》 where Han Xin advises taking the opposite course of a tyrannical ruler — 反其道, doing the reverse, will win the realm.

Stroke Order

反 fǎn

其 qí

道 dào

而 ér

行 xíng

之 zhī