📖 Meaning
To adapt one's actions to changing circumstances as they arise, responding flexibly to each situation. It is synonymous with 随机应变 (acting according to the situation). The idiom emphasizes seizing the right moment and adjusting strategy accordingly.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from the 'Biography of Guo Xiaoke' in the New Book of Tang (新唐书·郭孝恪传). Guo Xiaoke was a general in the early Tang dynasty. He advised that if one firmly held the Wulao Pass and deployed troops at the Sishui River, adapting flexibly to opportunities as they arose, the enemy could surely be captured and annihilated. The strategy stressed reading the battlefield situation and responding dynamically rather than following a fixed plan.
💡 Example Usage
战场形势瞬息万变，将领须逐机应变方能取胜。
The battlefield changes by the moment, and a general must adapt flexibly to each situation to achieve victory.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 逐机应变
- Pinyin: zhú jī yìng biàn
- Literal Translation: follow, opportunity, respond, change
- Category: Wisdom
- Characters: 4