# 得过且过

dé guò qiě guò

Get by without making an effort to improve

## Meaning & wording

**Literally:** If one can get through, just get through

**Traditional Chinese:** 得過且過

**Register:** Critical · general

[Effort & growth](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/topics/effort)

## When to use it

Criticize a passive, short-term approach.

Surviving hardship is different from careless complacency.

## Understanding the expression

The repeated idea of getting through reduces life or work to the next minimal step. The expression usually criticizes someone who avoids improvement and accepts preventable shortcomings. It can describe neglected maintenance or a person who does only enough to escape immediate trouble. The judgment should account for circumstances. Someone exhausted by poverty or illness may be managing survival rather than choosing complacency, so the same words can unfairly blame limited capacity.

## Examples

他工作得过且过，从不检查结果。

### Traditional Chinese

他工作得過且過，從不檢查結果。

tā gōng zuò dé guò qiě guò ， cóng bù jiǎn chá jié guǒ 。

He does the minimum at work and never checks results.

设备维护不能得过且过。

### Traditional Chinese

設備維護不能得過且過。

shè bèi wéi hù bù néng dé guò qiě guò 。

Maintenance cannot be handled carelessly.

她不想再得过且过，开始规划未来。

### Traditional Chinese

她不想再得過且過，開始規劃未來。

tā bù xiǎng zài dé guò qiě guò ， kāi shǐ guī huà wèi lái 。

She began planning rather than merely getting by.

困难时先撑住，不等于得过且过。

### Traditional Chinese

困難時先撐住，不等於得過且過。

kùn nán shí xiān chēng zhù ， bù děng yú dé guò qiě guò 。

Surviving hardship is not the same as complacency.

## Sources & reference checks

Original explanations and examples from Chinese Idioms Almanac. Source-checked October 6, 2026.

- [CC-CEDICT · forms & pronunciation](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdqb=%E5%BE%97%E9%81%8E%E4%B8%94%E9%81%8E)

- [Ministry of Education · 成語典](https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/idiomView.jsp?ID=536&webMd=1&la=0)

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