shàng
guān

idiom
literary

Meaning of 壁上观

壁上观 means watch from the sidelines; be an onlooker. Pronounced bì shàng guān.

  • watch from the sidelines; be an onlooker

Definitions & Examples

Duì
zhè
chǎng
zhēng
duān
 
xuǎn
zuò
shàng
guān
 
biǎo
rèn
jiàn
 

Regarding this dispute, he chose to watch from the sidelines and offered no opinion.

Tóng
shì
men
dōu
zài
wèi
xiàng
jiā
bān
 
què
zài
páng
shàng
guān
 

His colleagues were all working overtime on the project, but he just stood by and watched.

Gōng
miàn
lín
wēi
 
men
néng
zhǐ
shì
shàng
guān
 
xíng
dòng
lái
 

The company is facing a crisis; we cannot just be onlookers, we must take action.

píng
zhèng
de
shàng
guān
tài
dǎo
zhì
wèn
è
huà
 

He criticized the government's onlooker attitude for worsening the problem.