📖 Meaning
A rhetorical technique where one first downplays or suppresses something before elevating or praising it. The contrast makes the eventual praise more striking and impactful. It is widely used in writing, storytelling, and argumentation.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is not tied to a specific classical text or historical figure. It is a literary term describing a composition technique that has been used throughout Chinese literary tradition. Writers employ it to create dramatic contrast — first lowering expectations, then exceeding them — which makes the eventual elevation of the subject more powerful.
💡 Example Usage
这篇文章用欲扬先抑的笔法，先写主人公的平凡，再揭示他的伟大。
This article employs the technique of suppressing before elevating, first describing the protagonist's ordinariness, then revealing his greatness.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 欲扬先抑
- Pinyin: yù yáng xiān yì
- Literal Translation: want, elevate, first, suppress
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4