纵容

• Pinyin: zòng róng
• Hanzi breakdown: 纵 = 糸 + 从 (release); 容 = 宀 + 谷 (contain/tolerate)

Meaning

To indulge; to connive at; to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing. Allowing harmful or improper behaviour to continue through permissiveness or deliberate inaction.

Carries a clear negative connotation. Used in parenting, management, legal, and political contexts to describe the enabling of misconduct. Often implies moral failure or complicity.

Examples

1. 管理层长期纵容部分员工的违规行为，最终导致了此次合规危机的爆发。 Management long tolerated some employees' violations, which ultimately led to this compliance crisis.
2. 专家指出，过度纵容孩子的不良习惯会对其人格发展产生深远的负面影响。 Experts point out that overly indulging a child's bad habits can have a profound negative impact on their character development.
3. 相关部门对违法排污行为的纵容，加速了当地生态环境的恶化。 The authorities' turning a blind eye to illegal wastewater dumping accelerated the deterioration of the local environment.

Usage Guide

Context: management, parenting, law, governance

Tone: critical

Do Say

• 上级对下属徇私舞弊行为的纵容，是这次审计丑闻的根源之一。(The superior's connivance at subordinates' misconduct is one of the root causes of this audit scandal.)
• 家长不应以爱的名义纵容子女逃避应有的责任与规则。(Parents should not use love as an excuse to indulge children in evading their responsibilities and rules.)

Don't Say

• 纵容自己休息 — 纵容 implies enabling wrongdoing; use 允许 or 让自己 for legitimate self-care

Origin & History

纵 (release/let go) + 容 (tolerate/allow)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal