# 神机妙算

shén jī miào suàn

Show remarkably effective foresight and planning

## Meaning & wording

**Literally:** Inspired plans and ingenious calculations

**Traditional Chinese:** 神機妙算

**Register:** General · spoken & written

[Perspective](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/topics/perspective)

## When to use it

Praise a plan that anticipates developments unusually well.

It is admiring exaggeration, not a claim of supernatural knowledge.

## The image & its use

The words give a well timed plan an almost wondrous quality. Modern speakers use the expression to praise someone who anticipated a change and arranged a suitable response. It can also appear playfully when a small prediction proves correct. The praise should connect to an actual result or a clear piece of preparation. Even excellent planning works with imperfect information, so the phrase need not imply that the planner can predict every event.

## Examples

你提前带了伞，真是神机妙算。

### Traditional Chinese

你提前帶了傘，真是神機妙算。

nǐ tí qián dài le sǎn ， zhēn shì shén jī miào suàn 。

Bringing an umbrella in advance was excellent foresight.

她的安排恰好解决了问题，可谓神机妙算。

### Traditional Chinese

她的安排恰好解決了問題，可謂神機妙算。

tā de ān pái qià hǎo jiě jué le wèn tí ， kě wèi shén jī miào suàn 。

Her arrangement solved the problem with remarkable foresight.

他笑说自己神机妙算，其实只是做了功课。

### Traditional Chinese

他笑說自己神機妙算，其實只是做了功課。

tā xiào shuō zì jǐ shén jī miào suàn ， qí shí zhǐ shì zuò le gōng kè 。

He jokingly called himself a brilliant planner, though he had simply prepared.

别把一次巧合当成神机妙算。

### Traditional Chinese

別把一次巧合當成神機妙算。

bié bǎ yí cì qiǎo hé dàng chéng shén jī miào suàn 。

Do not mistake one coincidence for extraordinary foresight.

## Sources & reference checks

Original explanations and examples from Chinese Idioms Almanac. Source-checked October 7, 2026.

- [Ministry of Education · 成語典](https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/idiomView.jsp?ID=1077&webMd=1&la=0)

- [CC-CEDICT · forms & pronunciation](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdqb=%E7%A5%9E%E6%A9%9F%E5%A6%99%E7%AE%97)

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