弩张剑拔
nǔ​zhāng​jiàn​bá

at daggers drawn

弩张剑拔 弩張劍拔 nǔ​zhāng​jiàn​bá
at daggers drawn
Literally "bows drawn and swords unsheathed"; describing a situation that is extremely tense or on the verge of conflict; poised for war. Same as 剑拔弩张 jiàn​bá​nǔ​zhāng
bold and forceful
Describing calligraphy that is vigorous and powerful in its brushstrokes. Same as 剑拔弩张 jiàn​bá​nǔ​zhāng

Frequency
Written text
0.003 per million

Cross-References

Same as

Sources
Frequency data
BCC Corpus (BLCU)