Definition
不痛不痒 literally means 'not painful, not itchy' — something that has no real effect. As a chengyu, it describes criticism, comments, or actions that are too mild or superficial to address the core issue: they don't hurt, so they don't help. It can also describe someone being evasive or noncommittal, like 'beating around the bush'.
id.
superficialperfunctory (of criticism, comments, etc.)not addressing the real issueevasivenoncommittal
Examples
- 不痛不痒，。Tā tí de yìjiàn dōu shì bù tòng bù yǎng de, gēnběn méi shuō dào zhòngdiǎn.The suggestions he made were all superficial — they didn't get to the key points at all.
- 不痛不痒，。Zhè zhǒng bù tòng bù yǎng de pīpíng ràng rén tīng le hěn bù shūfu, què yì diǎn yòng yě méiyǒu.This kind of perfunctory criticism makes people uncomfortable but is completely useless.
- 不痛不痒，。Bié zài shuō nàxiē bù tòng bù yǎng de huà le, zánmen zhíjiē tán tán shízhì wèntí ba.Stop making those noncommittal remarks — let's talk directly about the substantive issue.
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