束手无策

Pronunciation: shù shǒu wú cè Literal meaning: Bind hands no strategy

Origin & Usage

Hands (手) bound (束) and no (无) plan (策) left. The binding is figurative and the helplessness is intellectual: nothing is preventing the person from acting, there is simply nothing useful left to try. That distinction is what the phrase exists for. It normally describes competent people who have worked through their options rather than people who never had any, which puts it closer to defeat than to incompetence — doctors, engineers and governments at the point where the next move is not known.

Examples

English: "The management team was completely helpless when facing the unprecedented crisis"

Chinese: 管理团队在面对这场前所未有的危机时束手无策