Japanese

だんしょうしゅぎ
Meaning: quoting out of context; selecting a passage to suit one's own interpretation
Part of Speech: Noun, Four-character idiom

Listen to pronunciation

Example

先生は、文脈を無視した断章取義を厳しく批判した。
The teacher strongly criticized a selective reading that ignored the context.

Usage Notes

This formal idiom is used negatively for cherry-picking words from a text or speech while ignoring the larger meaning.

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