找臺階下
zhǎo​tái​jiē​xià

to find a way out of an awkward situation

  • created sense approved 找台阶下/找臺階下 · zhǎo​tái​jiē​xià · to find a way out of an awkward situation — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    找台阶下 / 找臺階下

    zhǎo​tái​jiē​xià

    to find a way out of an awkward situation

    To look for a graceful way to resolve a deadlock or end a difficult situation without losing face; literally, to find a set of stairs to go down.

    找 (literal) → 找 · zhǎo · to look for 台阶 (literal) → 台阶/臺階 · tái​jiē · way out 下 (literal) → 下 · xià · to descend

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense