舞文弄墨

wǔ wén nòng mò

Dictionary entry

(idiom) to display one's facility with words

What does 舞文弄墨 mean?

舞文弄墨 (wǔ wén nòng mò) has the following dictionary meaning.

1(idiom) to display one's facility with words

2to show off one's literary skills

3(original meaning) to pervert the law by playing with legal phraseology (墨[mo4] was a reference to 繩墨|绳墨[sheng2 mo4])

Character breakdown

Open each character to see its own meanings and vocabulary links.

舞wǔto dance · to wield 文Wénsurname Wen 弄lònglane · alley 墨Mòsurname Mo · abbr. for 墨西哥[Mo4 xi1 ge1], Mexico

Reviewed examples

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How to pronounce 舞文弄墨

舞文弄墨

wǔ wén nòng mò

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Base dictionary data: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0.