を押して|をおして
- 1Going ahead with an action in spite of opposition or objections from others.Ex. 1
- 2Forcing oneself to act in spite of a personal hardship such as illness or advanced age.Ex. 2
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A formal, written expression found in news reports, biographies, and speeches. It describes someone who acts resolutely, often admirably, despite a burden they are fully aware of. Typical nouns are 反対, 病気, 高齢, 困難 and 悪天候. Compared with the neutral にもかかわらず, it stresses the subject's deliberate effort to overcome the obstacle.
Learners should not confuse this with literal 押す (to push or press), as in ボタンを押して; context shows the figurative sense.
Do not use it for trivial inconveniences; the obstacle should be a serious burden such as illness, opposition, or danger.
Note that the subject must act intentionally, so it cannot describe outcomes that happened without the subject's will.
- 1.をものともせずN1「をものともせず」 also attaches to obstacles like opposition, injury or illness, and bad weather, and is often interchangeable with 「を押して」; however, it emphasizes fearlessness and treating the obstacle as nothing, carries a tone of admiration, is generally not used for oneself, and also has the form 「をものともしない」 used as a predicate or modifier.
- 2.も顧みず / を顧みずN1When used with opposition, it is interchangeable with 「を押して」; 「を顧みず」 focuses on deliberately disregarding danger, one's own safety, honor, and the like. It can take 「も」 for emphasis, can also attach to 「動詞普通形＋の」, and can carry a critical nuance when describing someone acting willfully.
- 3.をよそにN1「をよそに」 means treating others' worries or expectations, or external circumstances, as irrelevant, and can attach as 「動詞＋のをよそに」. With 「反対」 both patterns work, but 「をよそに」 lacks the nuance of pushing through and persisting; 「心配」 and 「期待」 take only 「をよそに」.
- 4.もかまわずN2「もかまわず」 mostly refers to not caring about others' gaze, others' inconvenience, or one's own image, often with a critical or surprised tone, and is stylistically neutral; it can also attach to 「動詞＋の」. 「を押して」 is written-style language, often used to praise persistence in the face of obstacles.
- 5.にもかかわらずN2「にもかかわらず」 is a general concessive that can attach to all kinds of facts—nouns, verbs, adjectives—and the following clause can be a non-volitional result; 「を押して」 attaches only to nouns of the obstacle type and emphasizes the subject's deliberate resolve to push through the obstacle. The former can usually replace the latter, but not the other way around.
をものともせず treats the difficulty as nothing and praises boldness, を顧みず stresses disregard for danger or consequences, and をよそに means paying no heed to others' worries or to the surrounding situation. もかまわず means not minding something one would normally care about, whether other people's eyes or conditions like 雨もかまわず, often critically; にもかかわらず is a neutral 'despite' with no sense of effortful resolve, whereas を押して specifically means consciously bearing a burden and pushing through it.
