形同虚设 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to exist in name only
• empty shell
• useless

Character by character

• 形xíngform, shape; to appear; to describe; to look
• 同tóngsame, similar; together with, alike
• 虚xūfalse; worthless, hollow, empty; vain
• 设shèto build, to design; to establish; to offer

Idioms sharing a character

• 原形毕露 yuán xíng bì lù
• 喜形于色 xǐ xíng yú sè
• 土木形骸 tǔ mù xíng hái
• 奇形怪状 qí xíng guài zhuàng
• 如影随形 rú yǐng suí xíng
• 形单影只 xíng dān yǐng zhī
• 形影相吊 xíng yǐng xiāng diào
• 形影相随 xíng yǐng xiāng suí
• 形迹可疑 xíng jì kě yí
• 彪形大汉 biāo xíng dà hàn

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.