не мудрствуя лукаво

• НЕ МУДРСТВУЯ ЛУКАВО//f

[Verbal Adv; Invar; adv; fixed WO]

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⇒ (to do sth.) plainly, unaffectedly, without excessive pondering, speculation etc:

- simply and unpretentiously;

- without unnecessary embellishment;

- without being <trying to be> too clever about it;

- without undue theorizing.

     ♦ [author's usage] "Знаю, что не веруется, - а вы лукаво не мудрствуйте; отдайтесь жизни прямо, не рассуждая..." (Достоевский 3). "I know belief [in God] doesn't come easily-but don't be too clever about it, just give yourself directly to life, without reasoning..." (3c).

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← Words of the chronicler Pimen in Aleksandr Pushkin's tragedy Boris Godunov ("Борис Годунов"), 1831.