独 断 专 行

dú duàn zhuān xíngdictionary entry

to decide and act alone (idiom) / to take arbitrary action / a law unto 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-fcdd64e153a4ba17. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

獨斷專行 独断专行 [du2 duan4 zhuan1 xing2] /to decide and act alone (idiom); to take arbitrary action/a law unto 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.

Character information

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

Other forms in these source records: 獨斷專行

独
dú
alone / independent / single / sole / only
断
duàn
to break / to snap / to cut off / to give up or abstain from sth / to judge / (usu. used in the negative) absolutely / definitely / decidedly
专
zhuān
for a particular person, occasion, purpose / focused on one thing / special / expert / particular (to sth) / concentrated / specialized
行
háng
(bound form) row / line / (bound form) line of business / trade / profession / (bound form) commercial firm / (bound form) to rank (first, second etc) among one's siblings (by age) / (in data tables) row / (Tw) column / classifier for rows or lines
héng
used in 道行[dào héng]
xíng
(bound form) to walk / to go / to travel / (literary) trip / journey / visit / (bound form) temporary / makeshift / (bound form) current / in circulation / (bound form) to do / to perform / capable / competent / all right / OK! / will do / behavior / conduct (Taiwan pr. [xìng]) / (literary) about to / soon

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.