不假思索
- Literal
- without resorting to reflection
- Figurative
- To answer or act on the spot without stopping to think — sometimes out of sheer mastery, sometimes out of rashness.
Where does 不假思索 come from?
No specific anecdote lies behind it. The interesting part is 假, which here does not mean "false" —its best-known sense today— but "to draw on, to borrow," a classical value that survives in a handful of set phrases: you don't borrow any thinking, you just answer straight out. That is why the idiom works both ways, with context setting the tone: praise for someone who answers instantly because they know their material, criticism for someone who commits without having thought it through.
How is 不假思索 used? Two examples
- 老师一问，他不假思索就答对了。
The moment the teacher asked, he got it right without a second's thought.
- 这种事别不假思索地答应，先想清楚。
Don't say yes to something like this off the top of your head; think it through first.
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