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兵临城下

bīng lín chéng xiàdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
soldiers at the city walls (idiom) / fig. at a critical juncture
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-f609694d9418e464. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

兵臨城下 兵临城下 [bing1 lin2 cheng2 xia4] /soldiers at the city walls (idiom); fig. at a critical juncture/

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: 兵臨城下

  • 兵
    bīng

    soldiers / a force / an army / weapons / arms / military / warlike / CL:個|个[gè]

  • 临
    lín

    to face / to overlook / to arrive / to be (just) about to / just before

  • 城
    chéng

    city walls / city / town / CL:座[zuò],道[dào],個|个[gè]

  • 下
    xià

    down / downwards / below / lower / later / next (week etc) / second (of two parts) / to decline / to go down / to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc) / measure word to show the frequency of an action

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.