複合動詞

採算さいさんが合あわないため、事業じぎょうを打うち切きることになった。

Since it was not paying, the business was discontinued.

Usage 事業を打ち切る, 交渉を打ち切る, 放送を打ち切る. The point is stopping before completion. The noun is 打ち切り.

Remember it 打つ (strike) + 切る (cut) → cut off with a single stroke, part-way through.

睡眠すいみん不足ぶそくは翌日よくじつの業務ぎょうむに差さし支つかえる。

Lack of sleep interferes with the next day's work.

Usage 〜に差し支える. Two set phrases are worth memorising: 差し支えなければ, if you don't mind, opening a polite request, and 差し支えない, it poses no problem.

Remember it 差す + 支える (prop, obstruct) → something propped across the way, getting in the way.

警察けいさつは飲酒いんしゅ運転うんてんを厳きびしく取とり締しまっている。

The police are cracking down hard on drink-driving.

Usage 〜を取り締まる. The subject is an authority. The noun 取締り, and 取締役 — a company director, literally the one who oversees.

Remember it 取る (take) + 締める (tighten) → taking hold and tightening up.

失敗しっぱいを取とり繕つくろおうとして、かえって事態じたいを悪化あっかさせた。

Trying to paper over the failure only made things worse.

Usage 体裁を取り繕う, その場を取り繕う. Negative: covering appearances rather than fixing anything. The same sense as the second meaning of 繕う.

Remember it 取る + 繕う (mend) → a hasty patch to keep it from showing.

困難こんなんから逃にげず、正面しょうめんから立たち向むかう覚悟かくごを決きめた。

Rather than fleeing the difficulty, he resolved to face it head-on.

Usage 困難に立ち向かう, 敵に立ち向かう. Positive and courageous. Compare 挑む, which goes out to seek the challenge; 立ち向かう stands firm against what is coming.

Remember it 立つ (stand) + 向かう (face) → standing your ground and turning to face it.

二人ふたりの証言しょうげんが食くい違ちがっている。

The two men's testimony does not match.

Usage 証言が食い違う, 意見が食い違う. The noun is 食い違い. The subject is always two or more things that should have agreed.

Remember it 食う (bite) + 違う (differ) → gear teeth biting out of alignment.

相手あいての機嫌きげんを見計みはからって話はなを切きり出だした。

Judging his mood, she broached the subject.

Usage タイミングを見計らう, 頃合いを見計らう, and often 〜を見計らって. Watching and choosing the right moment.

Remember it 見る (watch) + 計らう (reckon) → watching while you reckon the moment.

予想よそうされるリスクをあらかじめ計画けいかくに織おり込こんでおく。

Anticipated risks are factored into the plan in advance.

Usage リスクを織り込む, and in finance 株価に織り込み済み — already priced in. From weaving a thread into the cloth so it becomes part of the fabric.

Remember it 織る (weave) + 込む (into) → woven in so it is part of the cloth itself.

報告ほうこく書しょには現場げんばの声こえも盛もり込こまれている。

Voices from the front line are included in the report too.

Usage 内容を盛り込む, 要望を盛り込む. Close to 織り込む, but 盛り込む is about packing more content in — a document or plan made fuller.

Remember it 盛る (heap up) + 込む (into) → heaped in until the dish is full.

原因げんいんを突つき詰つめると、制度せいど設計せっけい自体じたいに問題もんだいがあった。

Getting to the bottom of the cause, the problem lay in the design of the system itself.

Usage 原因を突き詰める, 問題を突き詰める. Also 突き詰めれば — 'if you push it all the way, then…' — a useful essay connective.

Remember it 突く (thrust) + 詰める (press to the limit) → pressed into the corner where there is nowhere left to go.

反対はんたい意見いけんを受うけて、企画きかくを一いちから練ねり直なおした。

Taking the objections on board, we reworked the proposal from scratch.

Usage 計画を練り直す, 案を練り直す. 練る alone means to knead and, figuratively, to work a plan or a sentence over until it is right.

Remember it 練る (knead) + 直す (redo) → kneading the dough again from the beginning.

理論りろんと実践じっせんの両面りょうめんを兼かね備そなえた人材じんざいは少すくない。

People who combine both theory and practice are rare.

Usage 〜と〜を兼ね備える. Always two desirable qualities held at once — 美貌と知性, 実力と人望. Never used of faults.

Remember it 兼ねる (hold both) + 備える (be equipped with) → equipped with the one and the other together.

学生がくせい時代じだいは研究けんきゅうに打うち込こんでいた。

In my student days I threw myself into research.

Usage 〜に打ち込む — devoting yourself wholeheartedly, and positive. Also literal: driving in a nail, or entering data — データを打ち込む.

Remember it 打つ (drive) + 込む (in) → driving yourself into it like a nail.

両りょうチームは最後さいごまで熱戦ねっせんを繰くり広ひろげた。

The two teams staged a fierce contest to the very end.

Usage 熱戦を繰り広げる, 議論を繰り広げる, and often passive: 繰り広げられる. Journalistic — a scene unrolling before the audience.

Remember it 繰る (unroll) + 広げる (spread) → a scroll unrolled and spread out to view.

気持きもちを切きり替かえて、次つぎの課題かだいに取とり組くもう。

Let us switch gears and tackle the next task.

Usage 気持ちを切り替える for putting something behind you, 方針を切り替える, 画面を切り替える. Its intransitive partner is 切り替わる.

Remember it 切る (cut) + 替える (replace) → cutting the old one off and putting the new one in.

ご要望ようぼうに沿そうよう取とり計はからいます。

We will arrange matters so as to meet your request.

Usage 〜よう取り計らう. Highly formal business Japanese, common in 敬語 correspondence alongside ご配慮 and よろしく.

Remember it 取る + 計らう (see to) → taking it in hand and seeing to it for you.

悪天候あくてんこうのため、出発しゅっぱつを見合みあわせることにした。

Because of the bad weather, we decided to postpone departure.

Usage The N1 sense is holding off: 運転を見合わせる, the phrase every train announcement uses. The literal 顔を見合わせる means to exchange glances.

Remember it 見る + 合わせる → stopping to look at each other, and at the situation, before acting.

証拠しょうこを示しめされても、彼かれは無実むじつだと言いい張はった。

Even shown the evidence, he insisted he was innocent.

Usage 〜と言い張る. Negative: sticking to a claim in the face of proof, out of stubbornness rather than conviction.

Remember it 言う (say) + 張る (stretch taut) → holding your words stretched tight and refusing to slacken.

周囲しゅういの反対はんたいを押おし切きって留学りゅうがくを決きめた。

He decided to study abroad over the objections of those around him.

Usage 反対を押し切る is close to fixed, usually as 〜を押し切って. Forcing a decision through against resistance.

Remember it 押す (push) + 切る (cut through) → shoving straight through the opposition.

長年ながねん隠かくしてきた悩なやみを親友しんゆうに打うち明あけた。

He confided to his close friend a worry he had hidden for years.

Usage 悩みを打ち明ける, 秘密を打ち明ける. Warm: opening up to someone you trust, quite unlike the legal 自白.

Remember it 打つ + 明ける (open, let light in) → throwing the shutters open on what was closed.

細こまかい条件じょうけんを見落みおとしていたことに後あとで気きづいた。

I realised later that I had overlooked the fine print.

Usage Noun 見落とし. Distinguish 見逃す, which can mean letting something pass deliberately — 見落とす is always accidental.

Remember it 見る (see) + 落とす (drop) → it passed before your eyes and you dropped it.

初期しょき対応たいおうが早はやく、被害ひがいを最小限さいしょうげんに食くい止とめた。

Thanks to the quick initial response, the damage was held to a minimum.

Usage 被害を食い止める, 感染拡大を食い止める, usually with 最小限に. Stronger than 止める — checking something already spreading.

Remember it 食う (bite) + 止める (stop) → biting down on it to hold it still.