应机立断 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to act on an opportunity ; to take prompt advantage of a situation

Character by character

• 应yìngshould, must; to respond, to handle; to deal with,
• 机jīdesk; machine; moment, opportunity
• 立lìto stand; to establish, to set up
• 断duànto sever, to cut off, to interrupt

Idioms sharing a character

• 一呼百应 yī hū bǎi yìng
• 咎有应得 jiù yǒu yīng dé
• 报应不爽 bào yìng bù shuǎng
• 得心应手 dé xīn yìng shǒu
• 应付自如 yìng fu zì rú
• 应付裕如 yìng fu yù rú
• 应天承运 yìng tiān chéng yùn
• 应天顺时 yìng tiān shùn shí
• 应接不暇 yìng jiē bù xiá
• 应有尽有 yīng yǒu jìn yǒu

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