📖 Meaning
To band closely together and act as one unified group. It describes people who maintain a tight-knit alliance, often implying exclusivity or cliquish behavior in their relationships.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the novel 'College Years' (大学时代) by the modern writer Cheng Shuzhen (程树榛). In the story, a character named Liu Xiangming and two others banded together to pursue fanciful scientific research, creating a bad influence among their classmates. The phrase vividly captures the image of people embracing tightly into a single mass, symbolizing close-knit solidarity that can carry either positive or negative connotations.
💡 Example Usage
公司里的几个部门经理抱成一团，排挤其他同事。
Several department managers in the company banded together to ostracize their other colleagues.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 抱成一团
- Pinyin: bào chéng yī tuán
- Literal Translation: hug, form, one, group
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4