📖 Meaning
Describes a response or reaction that is as immediate and swift as an echo answering a sound. It conveys that a reply, effect, or repercussion follows its cause with virtually no delay. The idiom emphasizes the speed and immediacy of the response rather than its content.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no single documented textual origin in the classical canon, and standard dictionaries list no specific source text. Its imagery is drawn from the everyday natural phenomenon of an echo, where a shout into a valley or cave returns instantly. Ancient Chinese writers often used the echo as a metaphor for prompt consequence, as seen in related early phrases such as 如响之应声 in works like Zhuangzi and Xunzi. Over time the compact four-character form crystallized this comparison into a set idiom. It is mostly used in written and literary contexts rather than everyday speech.
💡 Example Usage
他话音刚落，台下便如应斯响地响起一片掌声。
The moment his words ended, a wave of applause rose from the audience as swiftly as an echo.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 如应斯响
- Pinyin: rú yìng sī xiǎng
- Literal Translation: like, respond, thus, echo
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4