画蛇添足 meaning in English
(比喻做多余的事, 反而不恰当) paint a snake with feet -- superfluous; add legs to one's sketch of a serpent; (the additional discourses on ...) are completely superfluous.; carry [send] coals to newcastle; dangerous superfluity; draw a snake and add feet to it -- to spoil things by going to extremes; draw a snake with feet added to it -- redundant; fan the breezes; gild [paint] the lily; to overreach the mark is just as bad as not reaching it.; ruin the effect by adding what is superfluous; the action [measure; step] just taken was really unnecessary
Examples
- More examples just belabour it .
佐证多了，反而画蛇添足。 - His point that no serious harm is done in such cases has led him to contrive a subplot .
他认为这样做并无大碍。实际上，这是画蛇添足。 - You are wasting your time in painting the lily
你们这是把时间浪费在画蛇添足上。 - You ' ll be painting the lily if you try to correct his article
你去改动他的文章真是画蛇添足。 - The necessity and feasibility of retranslating the foreign masterpieces
名著重译并非都是画蛇添足