Definition
蜻蜓点水 literally means 'a dragonfly skimming the water'. As a chengyu, it describes doing something superficially or cursorily, without going into depth — like touching on a topic briefly without thorough exploration. You can use it to criticize a shallow approach to studying, researching, or handling a task.
idiom
to do something superficiallyto skim the surfaceto touch on a topic without depth
Examples
- 蜻蜓点水，。Tā xuéxí zǒngshì qīng tíng diǎn shuǐ, bù kěn shēnrù.He always skims the surface in his studies, unwilling to go deep.
- 蜻蜓点水，。Zhè běn shū zhǐshì qīng tíng diǎn shuǐ de jièshào le lìshǐ, bú gòu xiángxì.This book only touches lightly on history, not detailed enough.
- 蜻蜓点水，。Zuò yánjiū bù néng qīng tíng diǎn shuǐ, xūyào rènzhēn zuānyán.In research, you can't just skim the surface; you need to delve deeply.
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