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說不過去

简说不过去 · 繁說不過去

Mandarin · pinyin shuō bu guò qù

cannot be justified
inexcusable

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Characters in this entry

說: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
過: guò · pass, pass through, go across
去: qù · go away, leave, depart
说: shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
过: guò · pass, pass through, go across

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

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Mandarin tones

1–5–4–4 · shuo1 bu5 guo4 qu4

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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.

說不過去 · find source passages ↗ · 说不过去 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

adj

(idiomatic) to be unable to explain away; cannot justify morally

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

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