“大材小用”，汉语成语，意思是把大的材料用于小的用处（put fine timber to petty use），比喻人才使用不当，浪费人才，可以翻译为“make little use of a great talent，waste a talent on trivial job，put something big to small use”。

 

例句：

 

让你当打字员是大材小用。

The job of a typist is unworthy of your talents.

 

很多人觉得自己在工作上被迫大材小用。

Many find themselves having to take jobs far beneath them.

 

举例来说，如果大学毕业生认为自己从事的工作只需要高中文凭，他们就会认为自己是大材小用了。

For example, university graduates would count themselves overqualified if they were doing work they believed called for nothing more than A-levels.