CYChengyu Dictionary

Chengyu meaning

不可思议 (bù kě sī yì)

unbelievable or beyond imagination

Plain Answer

Source: Buddhist and classical reasoning vocabulary adapted into modern Chinese. Treated here as modern usage; read it first as a sentence-level judgment.

Core meaning: 不可思议 means unbelievable or beyond imagination: Used when something is so surprising, impressive, strange, or hard to explain that ordinary expectation does not cover it.

Practice this meaning
Label
neutral / common spoken and written
Best objects
admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary
Do not use when
Do not use 不可思议 for a scene that only shares one surface word with the meaning. If the problem is closer to 一鸣惊人 or the contrast points toward 一模一样, choose that nearby entry instead of stretching this one.

Use: Use 不可思议 when the admiring surprise sentence shows the object, cause, and tone clearly. Avoid: Avoid 不可思议 when the sentence only sounds related, lacks evidence, or needs a plainer word.

admiring surprise他三个月就能读这么难的文章，真不可思议。Ta san ge yue jiu neng du zheme nan de wenzhang, zhen bu ke si yi.It is incredible that he can read such difficult articles after only three months.

Next: Read the examples, then compare 一鸣惊人 before practicing 不可思议 in the focused quiz.

Often studied with: 一鸣惊人, 目不暇接, 风云突变

Read This First

不可思议 is introduced here through a modern usage entry rather than a fixed ancient anecdote; the source label is Buddhist and classical reasoning vocabulary adapted into modern Chinese, and the page separates that background from modern sentence choice.

不可思议 means unbelievable or beyond imagination. The important first reading is Used when something is so surprising, impressive, strange, or hard to explain that ordinary expectation does not cover it. This is a neutral phrase in normal use, so the sentence must show the judgment clearly.

Use 不可思议 when the object, cause, and tone match examples such as admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary; then compare 一鸣惊人 and 目不暇接 before writing your own sentence.

Avoid 不可思议 when the sentence only shares a broad topic, when the tone would be unfair to the person being described, or when a plainer word would be clearer than a chengyu.

Start with this cue: admiring surprise plus a visible reason.

Meaning and Translation Notes

Used when something is so surprising, impressive, strange, or hard to explain that ordinary expectation does not cover it.

Literal meaning

cannot be thought or discussed

  • 不可 / cannot
  • 思 / think
  • 议 / discuss

English equivalents

  • unbelievable near

    Use this when the speaker's normal expectation cannot comfortably explain what happened or what was seen.

  • incredible plain

    incredible is natural for praise, unbelievable may carry doubt, and hard to imagine is safest for neutral explanation

  • hard to imagine plain

    This is safer when the audience needs the meaning without extra cultural explanation.

How To Use It

Use 不可思议 when the reader can see why unbelievable or beyond imagination is the exact judgment, not just the topic. A strong sentence names the actor, the thing being judged, and the evidence that makes this idiom more precise than an ordinary adjective.

  • Use it when the speaker's normal expectation cannot comfortably explain what happened or what was seen.
  • The tone is surprised or admiring, so the surrounding sentence should make the judgment visible.
  • It works in admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary contexts when the boundary is clear.

Common Mistakes

Do not use 不可思议 for a scene that only shares one surface word with the meaning. If the problem is closer to 一鸣惊人 or the contrast points toward 一模一样, choose that nearby entry instead of stretching this one.

  • Do not use it when the result is ordinary excellence with no real surprise gap.
  • Do not choose it only because the English gloss "unbelievable" feels close; compare yi-ming-jing-ren first.

Wrong Use Clinic

The most useful check is often the phrase you should reject.

  1. The learner wants to sound more idiomatic but has only a broad topic match for 不可思议.

    The sentence drops in 不可思议 without showing the cause, object, or tone that would make the idiom necessary.

    Fix: Rewrite the sentence so the evidence for unbelievable or beyond imagination appears before or after the phrase.

    不可思议 fails in this case because a chengyu is not decoration; it must name the exact judgment the sentence is making.

    Compare yi ming jing ren

  2. The learner wants to say the opposite or a neighboring idea and chooses 不可思议 because it feels familiar.

    The sentence uses 不可思议, but the described situation points to a different cause, time point, or social attitude.

    Fix: Compare the sentence with 一模一样 and choose the phrase whose boundary explains the situation with less force.

    不可思议 becomes misleading when the nearby phrase would identify the real problem more cleanly.

    Compare yi mu yi yang

  3. The learner has the right meaning area for 不可思议 but ignores register and emotional force.

    The sentence uses 不可思议 directly about a person, yet gives no softening context or evidence for such a surprised or admiring judgment.

    Fix: Add the observed behavior first, or choose 目不暇接 if the sentence needs a gentler learning path.

    不可思议 can sound heavier than a short English gloss. The reader needs enough context to see why the tone is fair.

    Compare mu bu xia jie

  4. The learner remembers the origin image of 不可思议 but applies it to the wrong object.

    The sentence names an image or story detail, but the real object being judged would be better explained by another chengyu.

    Fix: Name the object first. If the object points toward 洞若观火, use that contrast instead.

    不可思议 should follow the judgment, not the most memorable image. Story memory is useful only when it supports the sentence-level decision.

    Compare dong ruo guan huo

Chengyu Often Studied Together

Use these clusters to build sentence-level judgment instead of memorizing a single gloss.

  1. 不可思议 with nearby learner choices

    不可思议 is often studied beside 一鸣惊人 and 目不暇接 because the words share a theme while asking the learner to judge a different cause, tone, or timing.

    老师先让学生解释不可思议，再比较一鸣惊人和目不暇接，这样不会只凭英文近义词选答案。

    yi ming jing renmu bu xia jie

  2. 不可思议 with contrast checks

    不可思议 becomes easier to use when it is contrasted with 风云突变 and 一模一样; the contrast forces the writer to decide whether the sentence is praise, warning, correction, or neutral description.

    写作练习里先用不可思议造句，再换成风云突变，观察判断方向怎样改变。

    feng yun tu bianyi mu yi yangyi ming jing ren

  3. 不可思议 in example-building drills

    不可思议 should be practiced with 一鸣惊人 and 风云突变 because examples reveal whether the learner is choosing by meaning, tone, or only by a remembered image.

    课堂上先用不可思议写一个有证据的句子，再换成一鸣惊人或风云突变说明判断为什么改变。

    yi ming jing renfeng yun tu bianmu bu xia jie

  4. 不可思议 in story and source review

    不可思议 links best with 目不暇接 and 一模一样 when the learner is checking whether a source image truly supports a modern sentence.

    复习出处时，不要只背不可思议的故事，还要比较目不暇接，看哪个成语更能解释现代句子。

    mu bu xia jieyi mu yi yangyi ming jing ren

Learner Guide

Use these notes when deciding whether this chengyu fits a real sentence.

Use 不可思议 when the speaker's normal expectation cannot comfortably explain what happened or what was seen. This first test keeps the phrase from spreading across every nearby topic. Before using it, identify the speaker, the object being judged, and the reason a plain word would miss the Chinese nuance.

For English translation, incredible is natural for praise, unbelievable may carry doubt, and hard to imagine is safest for neutral explanation. Do not choose an English phrase only because it sounds idiomatic. The translation should preserve tone, register, and the situation logic before it tries to sound compact.

The main misuse risk is when the result is ordinary excellence with no real surprise gap. That boundary matters because chengyu often share a theme while judging different causes, time points, or social attitudes. A nearby phrase can be familiar and still be wrong.

Before using it in your own sentence, write whether the speaker is admiring, doubting, or merely puzzled before choosing the English word. Then compare the sentence with yi-ming-jing-ren and mu-bu-xia-jie. If one nearby entry explains the situation with less force or more precision, choose that entry instead.

Before using 不可思议, write the plain English idea first. If the plain sentence already says everything naturally, the chengyu must add a sharper judgment, cultural image, or tone. If it does not add one of those, leave the plain wording alone.

A good 不可思议 sentence contains an object and evidence. The object is the person, plan, habit, result, or scene being judged. The evidence is the reason the phrase fits. Without both parts, the idiom may look learned but feel empty.

Compare 不可思议 with 一鸣惊人 and 一模一样 before finalizing a sentence. The goal is not to memorize synonyms; the goal is to reject the wrong phrase for a clear reason. That rejection is what turns recognition into usable knowledge.

When teaching or self-reviewing 不可思议, ask the learner to mark source, meaning, use case, wrong case, and one example. If any mark is missing, return to the entry section that supplies it rather than guessing from the headword alone.

admiring surprise is the first test zone for 不可思议, but it is not the only possible use. Before using the phrase, name the speaker, the object being judged, and the nearest tested context: admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary, usage boundary, misuse boundary, comparison check, context setup, teacher correction. Then choose among unbelievable, incredible, hard to imagine as translation candidates and reject at least one candidate out loud. A useful final check is to compare the sentence with yi-ming-jing-ren and mu-bu-xia-jie; if one of those nearby entries explains the situation with less strain, the nearby phrase is the better learner choice.

When 不可思议 is translated as unbelievable, the English should still preserve the phrase's tone. Keep surprised or admiring and the everyday-speech use area visible when the audience is still learning the idiom. If a short translation hides the warning "Do not use it when the result is ordinary excellence with no real surprise gap.", choose a fuller English explanation instead. This matters because the strongest chengyu pages should help readers decide when not to use the most convenient English equivalent.

Example Sentences

Each example labels the situation so you can choose a natural English translation.

admiring surprise

他三个月就能读这么难的文章，真不可思议。

Ta san ge yue jiu neng du zheme nan de wenzhang, zhen bu ke si yi.

It is incredible that he can read such difficult articles after only three months.

unexpected evidence

这个结果听起来不可思议，但数据确实支持它。

Zhege jieguo ting qilai bu ke si yi, dan shuju queshi zhichi ta.

The result sounds hard to believe, but the data really supports it.

tone boundary

不可思议不一定是否定，有时是在表达惊叹。

Bu ke si yi bu yiding shi fouding, youshi shi zai biaoda jingtan.

不可思议 is not always rejection; sometimes it expresses amazement.

usage boundary

只有原因和语气都清楚时，这句话才适合用不可思议。

zhi you yuan yin he yu qi dou qing chu shi zhe ju hua cai shi he yong bu ke si yi

Only use 不可思议 when the cause and tone are both clear, not just because the topic feels nearby.

misuse boundary

如果只是普通情况，不要为了显得有文化而硬说不可思议。

ru guo zhi shi pu tong qing kuang bu yao wei le xian de you wen hua er ying shuo bu ke si yi

If the situation is ordinary, do not force 不可思议 just to make the sentence sound more cultured.

comparison check

比较近义成语以后，再决定这里是不是应该写不可思议。

bi jiao jin yi cheng yu yi hou zai jue ding zhe li shi bu shi ying gai xie bu ke si yi

After comparing nearby chengyu, decide whether 不可思议 is really the phrase the sentence needs.

context setup

这段话先说明对象和原因，所以不可思议读起来不突兀。

zhe duan hua xian shuo ming dui xiang he yuan yin suo yi bu ke si yi du qi lai bu tu wu

The passage names the object and cause first, so 不可思议 does not feel abrupt.

teacher correction

老师让学生先解释为什么不用别的词，再用不可思议造句。

lao shi rang xue sheng xian jie shi wei shen me bu yong bie de ci zai yong bu ke si yi zao ju

The teacher asks students to explain why another phrase would be wrong before writing a sentence with 不可思议.

Story and Cultural Context

不可思议 once carried a more philosophical flavor, pointing to matters beyond ordinary thinking and discussion. Modern Chinese uses it broadly for surprise, admiration, and puzzlement. Modern learners usually need the phrase as a decision tool. It tells them when a situation has crossed a specific boundary, not merely which English word looks similar. In the examples here, the phrase is tested against admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary so the reader can see how the meaning changes with use. The safest reading is to keep the image, the tone, and the social situation together. 不可思议 once carried a more philosophical flavor, pointing to matters beyond ordinary thinking and discussion. Modern Chinese uses it broadly for surprise, admiration, and puzzlement. For English speakers, the useful memory is not only the literal image but the decision it makes possible. The examples test admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary so the phrase remains tied to real use instead of becoming a decorative translation label. For this entry, the origin note is only the beginning of the explanation. The useful question is why 不可思议 survived as a portable judgment rather than as a decorative allusion. The modern usage route gives the reader an image, but the modern sentence must still prove its own fit. A learner should ask three things: what concrete object is being judged, what evidence in the sentence supports that judgment, and what tone the phrase adds that a plain English adjective would not add. This is why the page tests 不可思议 through admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary, usage boundary, misuse boundary; each context changes the pressure on the phrase and shows whether the idiom is acting as praise, warning, neutral description, or criticism. The story or usage background also has a translation boundary. 不可思议 can point toward unbelievable, incredible, hard to imagine, but those English choices are not interchangeable. One version may preserve the image, another may sound natural in a classroom answer, and another may be safer in a workplace or essay sentence. The entry therefore treats public references as source cards, not as a paragraph order to imitate. Headword checks, story labels, and English equivalents are separated first; only after that are they rebuilt into the learner path used here: answer, label, examples, wrong-use clinic, comparison, story, and practice. The most common failure is overextension. Because 不可思议 has a memorable surface, learners may reach for it whenever a topic feels close. The better habit is to compare it with 一鸣惊人 and 目不暇接 and with 一模一样 and 洞若观火 before writing. If the rejected phrase is hard to reject, the sentence probably has not supplied enough evidence. If the rejected phrase is easy to reject, the learner can explain the boundary and use 不可思议 with confidence. That is the practical purpose of the origin section: it turns cultural memory into a sentence-level decision instead of leaving the reader with a story and no next action.

Learning point: Amazement can praise, question, or puzzle; context decides which one is active.

Editorial Notes

These notes turn the entry into a decision path, not a loose definition.

First answer before details

不可思议 should first be read as a decision about unbelievable or beyond imagination, not as a collectible story label. The usage history helps memory, but the reader's real task is to decide whether the modern sentence is making a neutral judgment with enough evidence. Start with the object being described, then ask what happened, who is being judged, and whether the tone is fair. If those details are missing, the idiom will feel like learned decoration rather than useful Chinese. This first-answer rule also helps teachers and translators: they can explain the phrase quickly before deciding whether a longer story, comparison, or correction block is needed.

Example clinic

The examples for 不可思议 deliberately cover admiring surprise, unexpected evidence, tone boundary, usage boundary, misuse boundary because a learner needs more than one successful sentence before the phrase becomes usable. Read the Chinese sentence, then explain in plain English why this phrase is more precise than a simple adjective or loose translation. A strong example names the context, shows the evidence, and makes the tone visible. A weak example merely places the chengyu near a related topic. This habit prevents a common error: remembering the literal image but forgetting the social judgment carried by the phrase. When the example feels forced, return to the meaning line and choose a plainer wording.

Comparison boundary

Before using 不可思议, compare it with 一鸣惊人 and 目不暇接 and, when possible, with 一模一样 and 洞若观火. The comparison is not a synonym game. Nearby chengyu often share effort, caution, wisdom, or evaluation as a topic, while differing in cause, timing, and emotional force. A good learner sentence can explain why the rejected phrase fails. If that explanation is impossible, the chosen idiom is probably too loose. This is also the cleanest internal-link reason: the next page exists because it helps the reader reject a tempting but wrong choice. The comparison should leave a reusable rule, not merely another link to click.

Wrong-use trigger

不可思议 should be rejected when the sentence lacks an object, hides the reason for the judgment, or uses the idiom only because it sounds literary. The safest correction is to rewrite the sentence in plain English first, then add the chengyu only if it sharpens the meaning. If the tone becomes unfair, choose a gentler nearby phrase. If the source image is memorable but the modern object does not match, use the story only as background and do not force the idiom into the sentence. This wrong-use trigger is what keeps the entry from becoming a long but vague dictionary page.

Source synthesis note

不可思议 uses public references as checkpoints rather than as a structure to copy. One source may help with the headword, another with a story or image, and another with English translation range. The page then rebuilds those checks into its own learner order: short answer, label, examples, misuse, collocation, guide, story, and practice. This matters because a single-source paraphrase would give readers a familiar-looking article but not a better learning tool. The editorial value here is the decision path: what to use, what not to use, what to compare, and how to test the phrase in a new sentence.

Practice This Decision

Answer a focused quiz question, then come back to the examples and misuse clinic if the near phrase feels tempting.

Start focused quizReview mistakes first