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勞師動眾

简劳师动众 · 繁勞師動眾

Mandarin · pinyin láo shī dòng zhòng

(idiom) to go to a great deal of trouble; to mobilize considerable manpower and resources (often unnecessarily)

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Characters in this entry

勞: Look up this written character
師: shī · teacher, master, specialist; multitude, troops; hexagram ䷆
動: dòng · move, happen; movement, action
眾: Look up this written character
劳: láo · labor, toil, do manual work
师: shī · teacher, master, specialist
动: dòng · move, happen; movement, action
众: zhòng · multitude, crowd; masses, public

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1–4–4 · lao2 shi1 dong4 zhong4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

勞師動眾 · find source passages ↗ · 劳师动众 · find source passages ↗

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to mobilize a large number of people

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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