📖 Meaning
To procrastinate and stubbornly cling to old routines, thereby missing opportunities and delaying matters. It specifically describes a situation where circumstances have changed, yet one continues to act the same old way, resulting in harmful delays.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Mao Zedong's 1937 declaration 'To Mobilize All Forces for the Victory of the War of Resistance' (为动员一切力量争取抗战胜利而斗争), written during the early period of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Mao warned that if the nation failed to adapt its strategies to the rapidly changing wartime circumstances and instead clung to outdated approaches, the resulting delay would bring blame upon those responsible. He cautioned that such procrastination could lead to national ruin and irrecoverable regret. The phrase combines 因循 (procrastination and adherence to old habits) with 坐误 (passively letting opportunities slip away through inaction).
💡 Example Usage
面对市场变化，公司却因循坐误，错失了转型的良机。
Despite the changing market, the company procrastinated and clung to old routines, missing the perfect opportunity to transform.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 因循坐误
- Pinyin: yīn xún zuò wù
- Literal Translation: follow old ways, sit by, miss
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4