小懲大誡 [ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄔㄥˊ ㄉㄚˋ ㄐㄧㄝˋ; xiao3 cheng2 da4 jie4] lit. to punish a little to prevent a lot (idiom); to criticize former mistakes firmly to prevent large scale repetition ◄ ►