闭门造车 bì mén zào chē — to build a cart behind closed doors; to work divorced from reality

闭门造车
bì mén zào chē

Characters: 闭 · 门 · 造 · 车

Definitions

  1. to build a cart behind closed doors; to work divorced from reality

More definitions

CC-CEDICT

  1. lit. to shut oneself away and build a cart (idiom)
  2. fig. to work on a project in isolation, without caring for outside realities

zdic(汉典)

  1. 比喻做事只凭主观想象，不顾客观实际。
  2. 按照统一规格，即使关起门来制造车辆，使用时也能与路上的车辙相合。

ExtDict

  1. 关起门来造车子。比喻脱离实际，只凭主观办事。

Examples

  • 做调查研究不能闭门造车。

    Doing research must not mean working divorced from reality.

  • 产品设计要倾听用户意见，不能闭门造车。

    Product design should heed users' opinions, not be done in isolation.