总之 zǒngzhī in a word
in a word; in short; in brief
How to remember 总之: 总 always + 之 of = in a word.
Characters
How it is used
- 'In short / anyway', a connector wrapping up or brushing details aside - 总之，我们成功了 (zǒngzhī, wǒmen chénggōng le) in short, we succeeded.
- Sentence-initial discourse marker. Beyond summarizing, it can dismiss details: 总之你别去就对了 (anyway, just don't go).
- Similar to 总而言之 (zǒng ér yán zhī, more formal 'to sum up') and 反正 (fǎnzhèng, more casual 'in any case').