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光说不练

guāng shuō bù liàndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
all talk and no action (idiom) / to preach what one does not practice / same as 光說不做|光说不做[guāng shuō bù zuò]
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-9fea716ec5e3fc1e. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

光說不練 光说不练 [guang1 shuo1 bu4 lian4] /all talk and no action (idiom)/to preach what one does not practice/same as 光說不做|光说不做[guang1 shuo1 bu4 zuo4]/

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: 光說不練

  • 光
    guāng

    light / ray (CL:道[dào]) / bright / shiny / only / merely / used up / finished / to leave (a part of the body) uncovered

  • 说
    shuì

    to persuade

    shuō

    to speak / to talk / to say / to explain / to comment / to scold / to tell off / (bound form) theory / doctrine

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 练
    liàn

    to practice / to train / to drill / to perfect (one's skill) / exercise / (literary) white silk / to boil and scour raw silk

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.