An idiom is a phrase or an expression that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning. These are an important part of everyday English and can even make your spoken and written English better.
Everyday Idioms
- A grey area – Something unclear
- A rip-off – Too expensive
- Add fuel to the fire – To add more to an existing problem
- As easy as ABC – Something is very easy
- Call it a day – Time to quit
- Cool as a cucumber – To be very calm under stress
- Crack a book – Open up a book and study
- Down to the wire – At the last minute
- Draw a blank – Can’t remember
- Fill in the blanks – Provide more information
- Get a kick out of it – Really enjoy/like something
- Get your act together – Behave properly
- Give it a shot – To try to do something
- Have mixed feelings – Be unsure of how you feel
- Have second thoughts – Have doubts
- In hot water – Be in trouble
- In the same boat – Be in the same situation
- It’s in the bag – It’s a certainty
- I’ve got your number – To say you can’t be fooled by someone since you have them figured out
- Miss the boat – You missed your chance
- Mumbo jumbo – To call something total nonsense
- Out of the blue – With no warning
- Pass with flying colors – To succeed at something easily
- Piece of cake – Something very easy
- Read between the lines – Find the hidden meaning
- Second to none – The best
- The icing on the cake – Something additional that turns good into great
Body Part Idioms
- Cross your fingers – For good luck
- Fell on deaf ears – People wouldn’t listen to something
- Get cold feet – Be nervous
- Giving the cold shoulder – Ignore someone
- Have a change of heart – Changed your mind
- I’m all ears – You have my full attention
- It cost an arm and a leg – It was expensive
- Play it by ear – Improvise
- See eye to eye – Agree
- Slipped my mind – I forgot
- Speak your mind – Say what you really feel
Animal Idioms
- A bull in a china shop – Someone who is very clumsy
- A little birdie told me – Someone told me a secret
- Bee in her bonnet – She is upset
- Birdbrain – Someone who is not very smart
- Busy as a bee – To be very active and working hard at something
- Cat got your tongue? – Why aren’t you talking?
- Cry crocodile tears – To pretend to be upset
- Curiosity killed the cat – Asking too many questions may get you in trouble
- Different kettle of fish – Something completely different
- Doggy bag – A bag to take home leftovers from a restaurant
- Fish out of water – Being somewhere you don’t belong
- For the birds – Something that is not worth anything
- Get off your high horse – Quit thinking you are better than others
- Goose is cooked – Now you’re in trouble
- Hold your horses – Wait a minute
- Horse of a different color – Something that is quite different, a separate issue
- Hot dog – A person doing athletic stunts that are dangerous
- Let the cat out of the bag – Tell a secret
- Make a mountain out of a molehill – Make something unimportant into a big deal
- Night owl – Someone who stays up late
- Pig out – To eat a lot
- Put a bug in his ear – Make a suggestion
- Raining cats and dogs – It is raining very hard
- Snail’s pace – To move extremely slow
- Stir a hornet’s nest – To cause a lot of trouble
- Teacher’s pet – The teacher’s favorite student
- The world is your oyster – You can achieve whatever/go wherever you want
- When pigs fly – To say something is impossible
- Wolf in sheep’s clothing – A person who pretends to be nice but is not
- You can’t teach an old dog new tricks – It’s harder for older people to learn new things
