Definition
本末倒置 is a four-character idiom (chengyu) that literally means 'the root and the tip are reversed'. It describes a situation where someone treats the unimportant as important and the important as unimportant — putting the cart before the horse. You use it to criticize a misplaced priority or a confused order of importance.
f.e.
to put the incidental before the fundamentalto confuse the main issue with minor details
Examples
- 本末倒置，。Zuò yánjiū bùnéng běn mò dào zhì, zhǐ guānzhù shùjù ér hūshì lǐlùn.When doing research, you can't put the cart before the horse by focusing only on data while ignoring theory.
- ，本末倒置。Tā wèile shěng qián bù mǎi bǎoxiǎn, zhēn shì běn mò dào zhì.He didn't buy insurance just to save money — that's really putting the incidental before the fundamental.
- ，本末倒置。Gōngsī bǎ yíngxiāo fàng zài chǎnpǐn zhìliàng zhī qián, wánquán shì běn mò dào zhì.The company puts marketing ahead of product quality — that's completely putting the cart before the horse.
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