"Sever a relationship with one stroke" literally means cutting an object into two parts with a single knife stroke, and metaphorically means to resolutely and completely break off a relationship or split apart. This idiom originates from Zhu Xi's Classified Conversations of Master Zhu in the Song Dynasty, where "sever a relationship with one stroke" is used to describe handling problems decisively and without dragging things out. In its deeper meaning, it emphasizes no longer maintaining lingering ties, carries strong emotional coloring, and suggests resoluteness and decisiveness. It is mostly used in scenarios describing the breaking off of contact between people, such as friends ending a friendship, lovers breaking up, or partners dissolving a partnership, and it can also be used to describe thoroughly drawing a line between oneself and past bad habits or erroneous thinking. In terms of cultural background, traditional Chinese culture values harmony in interpersonal relationships, but at the same time also admires the decisiveness of "cutting off when one should cut off," and this idiom embodies the wisdom of decision-making within that contradiction. It should be noted that it usually carries an active and resolute attitude rather than passive separation, and therefore is often used together with words such as "from then on" and "thoroughly."
📝 Example
1. Since he has deceived you time and again, you might as well make a clean break and have no further dealings with him from now on. (In this sentence, it means to resolutely cut off relations.)
2. In order to focus on exam preparation, he decided to make a clean break with games and deleted all his gaming accounts. (In this sentence, it means to completely give up and no longer touch something.)