DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(idiom) (of one's circumstances) beyond one's control; unable to do anything about it; (of one's actions) not subject to conscious control (i.e. done in spite of oneself)Sources & editorial notes
Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.
Source record: cd-3460d642698258de. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.
Original source entry:
身不由己 身不由己 [shen1 bu4 you2 ji3] /(idiom) (of one's circumstances) beyond one's control; unable to do anything about it; (of one's actions) not subject to conscious control (i.e. done in spite of oneself)/Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.
Reference information
The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.
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Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.