📖 Meaning
To exaggerate or magnify a matter beyond its actual proportions. It describes someone who blows things out of proportion, making a situation seem far more serious or significant than it truly is. Similar to the English notion of making a mountain out of a molehill.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the History of Song, Biography of Zhang Zhuang (《宋史·张庄传》). Zhang Zhuang and Zu Dao擅自 raised armies and provoked border conflicts to claim credit, falsely reporting that various tribal peoples had submitted and offered tribute. The powerful ministers of the time seized upon this as a great achievement in pacifying the frontier peoples, exaggerating the matter in their celebratory memorials and reward requests. The historian remarked that since ancient times, no deception of the ruler had been greater than this.
💡 Example Usage
他只是擦破了皮，却张皇其事，逢人便说受了重伤。
He only scraped his skin, yet he exaggerated the matter, telling everyone he met that he had been seriously injured.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 张皇其事
- Pinyin: zhāng huáng qí shì
- Literal Translation: exaggerate, its, matter
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4