对症下药

對症下藥
duìzhèng-xiàyào
idiom HSK 7-9 #36,021

Meanings

  1. 1 to prescribe the right medicine for the illness
  2. 2 to take targeted measures
  3. 3 to tailor solutions to the specific problem

Examples

HSK 5
Jiějué wèntí yào duìzhèng-xiàyào, bùnéng yìdāoqiē.
Solving problems requires targeted measures, not a blanket approach.
HSK 5
Lǎoshī duìzhèng-xiàyào, bāngzhù měi gè xuésheng jìnbù.
The teacher tailors his approach to each student and helps every one of them improve.

Tips

history
From the 《三国志·魏志·华佗传》 biography of the legendary physician Hua Tuo. Two officers with identical symptoms were given opposite treatments - one a purgative, one a sweat-inducer - because their underlying conditions differed. Both recovered.
usage
Medical literal to general figurative. Now mostly used about management, teaching, policy - anywhere that a one-size-fits-all approach would fail and a diagnosis-specific one works.

Stroke Order

duì
zhèng
xià
yào