using a great talent for a small task; wasting talent
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 4 examplesidiom
to misuse or underutilize talent; to put an excellent person in an insignificant position
neutralUsed to criticize situations where a highly capable person is given a trivial job, resulting in wasted potential. Always carries a sense of regret or criticism.
Ràng让
yī一
gè个
bó博
shì士
qù去
zuò做
wén文
yuán员
，
jiǎn简
zhí直
jiù就
shì是
dà大
cái材
xiǎo小
yòng用
。
Having a PhD do clerical work is a complete waste of talent.
Lǐng领
dǎo导
jué觉
de得
pài派
tā他
qù去
guǎn管
lǐ理
nà那
gè个
xiǎo小
xiàng项
mù目
shì是
dà大
cái材
xiǎo小
yòng用
le了
。
The leader felt sending him to manage that small project was underutilizing his abilities.
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Gōng公
sī司
dān担
xīn心
dà大
cái材
xiǎo小
yòng用
，
suǒ所
yǐ以
gěi给
tā他
ān安
pái排
le了
yī一
gè个
gèng更
zhòng重
yào要
de的
zhí职
wèi位
。
The company was worried about wasting his talent, so they assigned him a more important position.
Zhè这
wèi位
gōng工
chéng程
shī师
lái来
zuò做
jiǎn简
dān单
de的
shù数
jù据
lù录
rù入
，
zhēn真
shì是
dà大
cái材
xiǎo小
yòng用
a啊
。
Having this engineer do simple data entry is really a misuse of his skills.