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义正辞严

yì zhèng cí yándictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
(idiom) to speak forcibly out of a sense of righteousness
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-9c051f156f5d0aa7. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

義正辭嚴 义正辞严 [yi4 zheng4 ci2 yan2] /(idiom) to speak forcibly out of a sense of righteousness/

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.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 義正辭嚴

  • 义
    yì

    justice / righteousness / meaning / foster (father etc) / adopted / artificial (tooth, limb etc) / relationship / friendship

    Yì

    surname Yi / (Tw) Italy (abbr. for 義大利|义大利[Yì dà lì])

  • 正
    zhēng

    first month of the lunar year

    zhèng

    straight / upright / proper / main / principal / to correct / to rectify / exactly / just (at that time) / right (in that place) / (math.) positive

  • 辞
    cí

    to resign / to dismiss / to decline / (literary) to take leave / (archaic poetic genre) ballad

  • 严
    yán

    tight (closely sealed) / stern / strict / rigorous / severe / father

    Yán

    surname Yan

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.