Idiomatic expressions are groups of words with an established meaning unrelated

to the meanings of the individual words. Sometimes called an expression, an idiom

can be very colorful and make a ‘picture’ in our minds.

Some common idiomatic expressions:

 He let the cat out of the bag (accidentally told a secret).

 She got off Scott-free (escaped without punishment).
 He flew off the handle (went crazy).

We love idiomatic expressions and idiomatic phrases in English, don’t we? From an
English language-learner’s point of view, they are the ‘icing on the cake’ much like
phrasal verbs. But how do we remember what they mean and how to use them?

We can memorize a few, and try to use them as often as we can (probably too often!),
but how do we manage an idiom that we are meeting for the first time?

I’m going to show you how you can easily understand more than 100 English idioms,
used in both American English and British English, even the first time you hear them.

Firstly, you need to know that idioms and phrases are everywhere in English: anything
that doesn’t have a literal, physical meaning is an idiom. Let’s look at some idiom
examples:

 I find his excuses hard to swallow, he’s lying.

 The police have been digging around in his accounts looking for evidence of
fraud.
 He’s a really bright spark, so I think he’ll do well at school.

These sentences all contain idioms, because you can’t swallow words or dig in a bank
account in any literal or physical way – and how can a ‘spark’ do well at school? You’ll
also notice that a literal translation into most languages won’t make sense.

These kinds of idioms are far more common, and therefore far more important, than the
more colorful expressions like ‘He’s kicked the bucket’ (died), ‘She’s hitting the
books’ (studying), or ‘Break a leg!’ (Good luck!), and without them students often
sound too formal – saying things like:

 I don’t believe his excuses.

 The police have been investigating his accounts looking for evidence of fraud.
 He is a very intelligent student, so I think he’ll succeed at university.

So how can you learn idioms without memorizing huge lists of English expressions?
Many of my students in my online English classes ask me this. I’ll show you how.

List of Common English Idioms:

Idiom Meaning

Hard to swallow Difficult to believe

Digging around Looking for

He’s a really bright spark He’s an intelligent person

He’s kicked the bucket He’s died

She’s hitting the books She’s studying hard

Break a leg! Good luck!

Set out on a new career Start a new career

Saunter through life Live in a relaxed way

Do something the way another person did it

Follow in someone’s footsteps
before

One step at a time Do something slowly and carefully

The sequence of jobs someone takes that create

Career path
their career

Milestones Important events in a person’s life or career

Dead end job A job that offers no opportunity for advancement

When someone is at a point in life where their

To be at a crossroads
decisions will have long term consequences
Idiom Meaning

He’s on the straight and narrow He’s living in a morally proper way

To walk someone through

To show someone how to do something
something

We need to come up with a road

We need to make a plan
map

I wouldn’t go down that road if I

I wouldn’t do that if I were you!
were you!

Don’t try to do something difficult before

Don’t run before you can walk
mastering the basics

When progress on something is being made in

Inching forward
small increments

To move at a snail’s pace To move slowly

To get good mileage out of

To get a lot of benefits from something
something

To have your whole life in front

To be young and have a lot of years to live
of you

To get on with your life To make progress in life goals after a difficulty

To behave or speak carefully to avoid offending

To tread carefully
or causing problems with someone or something

To be a minefield When something presents many possible dangers

We’ll cross that bridge when we

To wait to worry about one problem at a time
come to it

Information superhighway The internet

Time is money Time is a valuable resource

A tasty (or juicy) bit of gossip Very interesting or sensational gossip

To devour someone or
To consume something very quickly
something

To add a pinch of salt to To acknowledge that someone exaggerates

Idiom Meaning

something

To think about something before making a

To chew something over
decision

To not swallow something To not accept something as fact

To bite off more than you can When someone makes a commitment that they
chew cannot keep

To eat your wods When someone has to admit they were wrong

A warm welcome A friendly welcome

The cold shoulder An unfriendly welcome

When things heat up between

When a relationship becomes romantic
people

To be cold-hearted To be dispassionate or uncaring

A 24-hour hotline A phone line that is always active

To receive a greeting that makes someone feel

A very frosty reception
unwelcome

The Cold War War without active fighting between nations

A warm smile and the warm

A welcoming smile and handshake
handshake

People who call phones, usually for sales, who

Cold callers don’t have previous contact with the person
they’re calling

We took the temperature of the Checked the overall opinion of a person or group
group of people about something

Most people were quite warm

People have a positive reaction to the idea
about the idea

You’ll reap the rewards later To collect the benefits of your work

To prune out To clear, clean or groom something

Separate the wheat from the Separate what is useful or valuable from what is
Idiom Meaning

chaff worthless

Based on something or connected to a

Rooted in
source/cause

To reduce something, usually related to the

To cutback something
amount of money spent

To use a lot of your physical, mental or financial

To dig deep
resources to achieve something

A positive change in the production of goods or

Great growth
services

Root and branch Completely/utter

Money that is used to start a small business or

Seed money
other activity

Bright shoot Start something new, a new chapter

To follow a plan or course of action

Plough its own furrow
independently

Have an ability to make plants grow, to be good

Green fingers
at gardening

To argue that something is the best thing to do, to

Build/make a good case explain and give reasons why something should
be done

To tell lies about something, completely made-

A fabrication
up/invented

To be confident about the topic you are dealing

To be on solid ground
with, or because you are in a safe situation

To use something as a base or foundation to

Build on
develop something else

To break something into a smaller form or into

Shattered
many pieces

Behave in a way that makes you less likely to

Undermine your position
succeed
Idiom Meaning

To break down someone’s argument to an extent

Demolish your arguments
that it is no longer accurate or correct

Criticism that is useful because they can help

Constructive criticism
improve something

A reason for you to be dismissed from your job,

Grounds for dismissal
often due to your (negative) behavior

Completely groundless Not based on any good reason

Grounded in fact Something that is based on facts

Come to light To be revealed

Unearthed To find something that was lost or forgotten

A mine of Someone or something that can provide you with

information/gossip/data a lot of information etc.

Get to the bottom of Find an explanation, often to a mystery

Digging into To methodically reveal information

To try to hide something, such as a memory, the

To bury the memory
truth etc.

Emerge Something that is brought to attention

Out in the open In public view or knowledge, everybody knows

An alternative culture, different from the

Underground scene
mainstream of society and culture

Something that can be seen by everyone/the

Transparency
public

Crystal clear Perfectly easy to understand

To ignore or hide from the obvious signs of

Put your head in the sand
danger

Bright spark Someone that is highly intelligent

Enlightenment To understand something completely

Idiom Meaning

To reveal something about someone/something,

Throw light on something
to clarify something

Dull Something that lacks imagination, boring

Brilliant Shining brightly, stands out, illustrious

A state of ignorance, to not have knowledge

In the dark
about something

Something/someone that thinks slowly, lacks

Dim-witted
intelligence

When something was not understood, a time

Dark ages
when knowledge was limited

Illuminating To make something more understandable

A part of a political group that consists of people

Right-wing
who support conservative or traditional ideas

Look down upon To view someone or something as unworthy

Side of the fence Refers to either side of opposing views or ideas

The current state of things and how they are

Political landscape
looking in the future

How you observe things that happen, your

Look at life
opinion on daily matters

Behind you all the way To fully support someone’s actions

Point of view An opinion on something

A clearer view of something, a more thorough

Better perspective
understanding of a situation

Take someone’s side To support one person’s side of an argument

Where I stand Your opinion, point of view

Look up to To respect someone as a role model

The status of being respected, a position of being

Moral high ground
‘more’ moral than others
 Idiom Meaning

Undecided on a decision, avoid making a

Sitting on the fence
decision on something

A typical ESL student is both fascinated and frustrated by idioms; they give you fluency
but are very hard to use accurately because:

 They may change meaning if you forget or change a single word.

 You must use them in the right context – don’t say ‘he’s kicked the bucket’
(died) at a funeral!
 You can’t translate them into, or from, another language. There is no literal
translation.

7 Ways to Make English Idioms and

Phrases Easier to Understand:
1. Listen to context.
Idioms are unusual expressions. So ask yourself ‘Why is that person using an unusual
expression?’ The reasons are likely to be connected with emphasis, exaggeration, or a
high state of emotion! So check the context – and the facial expression!

2. Check to see if you understood.

Use expressions like; ‘so you’re pretty angry about that right?’ or ‘OK, you mean that
you’re too busy at the moment.’

3. Be honest when you don’t understand.

Try using; ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you mean.’

4. Never translate idioms.

Idioms from your own language may use the same imagery or concepts (and it is always
interesting to notice these similarities) but they are unlikely to translate word-for-word
into English expressions.

5. Listen to how native speakers use

idioms.
A native English speaker NEVER says ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ – so why should an
ESL student? Listen to what native speakers actually say in a given situation, and copy.

6. Take notes.
Keep a notebook of your favorite expressions in English and add anything new that you
hear. Try to use new expressions soon after you learn them, this is called ‘use it or lose
it.’

7. Tolerate your mistakes.

You will definitely make mistakes and create confusion when you use idiomatic
expressions, so be brave and allow yourself the space to try, fail, and try again.

Examples of idiomatic expressions about

life:
 He’s put his criminal past behind him – He’s on the straight and narrow now!
 It’s a difficult system to get used to, so let me just walk you through the first
few steps.
 We need to come up with a road map to go forward with these negotiations.
 Being selected for the national team was the first major milestone in my career.
 So you want to invest in his business? I wouldn’t go down that road if I were
you!
  I feel like I’m at a crossroads in my career and I’m not sure which way to
turn.
 I have tried to follow in Dad’s footsteps and to do the right things.
 I suppose I’ve gone down quite a winding career path – I’ve never done things
the easy way!
 Holmes had crossed paths with Moriarty several times before and it had never
gone well.
 I know I said you should read a bit more, but War and Peace? Don’t run before
you can walk!

Please note that we use the imperial system, rather than the modern metric system, to
refer to distances in idioms:

 We are just inching forward with this project at a snail’s pace.

 I think I can get good mileage out of this idea.

Notice the way that prepositions are used to imply movement or direction in life:

 He envied his grandchildren having their whole lives in front of them.

 I always try and put failures behind me and get on with my life.

Also, if we are traveling along a road or pathway, we might expect to find obstacles to
our progress and have to handle them in some way:

 We need to tread carefully here because ethnic tensions in the area can be a
minefield.
 I don’t know yet what we’ll do if they reject our offer – but we’ll cross that
bridge when we come to it.

And please note that idioms involving roads can refer to other things:

 The information superhighway has changed the way we think about the world.

Examples of English Expressions About

Money:
Look at these sentences and decide if you can substitute the word ‘time’ for the word
‘money’ (you may have to make a few extra changes):

 We will have to go soon – we are getting short of money.

 I have wasted a lot of time on this project.
 We made some changes at work to save money.
 He is determined to make it work – he’s invested so much time in the business
already.
 He worked my shift at work for me – so I guess I owe him some time in return.
 I would like to devote more time to keeping the garden in shape.
 This problem has cost us too much money already!
 We are living on borrowed time.
 I thought I gave him enough money – but he seems to have squandered it all!
 She’s always had better money-management skills than me.

In most of the sentences above you can substitute ‘time’ for ‘money’ without a problem.
The context may change, but the sentences themselves still look fine.

Please note that we can replace the actual word ‘time’ with an amount of time – and we
can do this with ‘money’ too:

 We spent three weeks there.

 I spent $50 on it.
 It takes half an hour to get there.
 It took $100 to convince him!

Examples of English Expressions

about Knowledge:
 He absolutely devours newspapers – he gets about three every morning!
 You have a great appetite for knowledge, and I respect that.
 I won’t give you an answer yet – Let me chew it over for a while.
  Who broke the school window? Come on lad – spit it out!
 I got my dad a subscription to The Reader’s Digest.
 She always exaggerates so if I were you, I’d take what she says with a pinch of
salt.
 Don’t give them too much information at the start of the course – just bite-sized
chunks for now.
 We sat with a bottle by the river ruminating on the meaning of life.
 The exam system is terrible – you just have to regurgitate the textbook,
basically.
 Information is food? – I’m not swallowing that!

Please note that idiomatic expressions involving food or eating can express other
meanings in English, for example if you bite off more than you can chew, you try to
do too much or more than you are able to do; or if you eat your own words, you retract
what you said earlier:

 He bit off more than he could chew when he agreed to paint the house by
himself.
 He’s going to regret saying that – I’m going to make him eat his own words!

Don’t try making a literal translation of those! And choices, for example, have taste:

 I can offer you a couple of tasty options from our new winter collection.
 The delegates are being forced to choose between two unpalatable candidates.

Examples of English Idioms about

relationships:
 Hello – and a very warm welcome to the show!
 I tried to explain to her but she just gave me the cold shoulder.
 Perhaps you should cool things off with him for a while.
 I think things are heating up between Dave and Mary!
 She was a very cold-hearted mother who never gave us hugs or praise.
 We have set up a 24-hour hotline for anyone who wants more information.
  Well, that was a very frosty reception – I don’t think we’re very welcome here!
 The cold war was a low point in East-West relations in Europe.
 She liked him immediately; it was the warm smile and the warm handshake.
 I can’t stand these cold callers trying to sell me things I don’t want!

Notice that heat can also describe our relationship to ideas:

 We took the temperature of the group as to whether John would be a suitable

replacement for Mark and found that most people were quite warm to the idea.

Examples of English Expressions About

Economics:
 If you work hard now, you’ll reap the rewards later.
 We needed to prune out the deadwood to make the company more competitive.
 The first stage of the interview process is really just to separate the wheat from
the chaff – to discount the applicants who are definitely unsuitable.
 Our main business is rooted in this sector.
 There have been sharp staff cutbacks since they lost the contract.
 We will have to dig deep if we want this project to succeed.
 There has been great growth over the second quarter.
 The company was in a terrible state – we needed to make root and branch
reform.
 We have invested a lot of seed money in this project.
 After the recession we can now see the first bright shoots of recovery, with
several new businesses opening around town.

Please note that many of the above phrases can be used in other contexts; for example,
‘dig deep’ simply means ‘try harder’ and can be used in any situation where more effort
is required;

 Liverpool are going to have to dig deep here if they are going to win this match.

Also, some agricultural idioms can be used in non-business contexts:

  The entire university should act as one on this issue, rather than each department
trying to plough its own furrow.

And some gardening idioms don’t seem to transfer to other contexts:

 I’ve killed every plant I’ve ever owned. But she has got really green fingers,
you should see her garden – it’s beautiful!

Ok, that should really help you with business English.

English Expressions About Knowledge:

 With so much supporting evidence, the police can build a good case for
conviction.
 He is such an unreliable witness – his entire testimony was a fabrication of lies
and half-truths.
 I feel like I am on pretty solid ground when I’m talking about my thesis.
 Our products are strong on reliability and we can build on this foundation in
the future.
 His essay was terrible – there was no structure to the argument.
 His reputation has been completely shattered by these baseless accusations.
 If she is taking bribes, it completely undermines her position on corruption.
 She won the debate easily – she just demolished their arguments!
 I welcome any constructive criticisms of my work.

‘Ground’ is the most commonly used word in this context:

 Being rude to customers is grounds for dismissal.

 These allegations are completely groundless and are just intended to disrupt our
preparations for the Games.
 Is any of this grounded in fact?

English Expressions About Truth:

  I want you to dig deep into your memories and think about your first day at
school.
 The Police have reopened the case after new evidence came to light.
 I’ve been working in the archives for the last few months and have unearthed
some interesting stories about him.
 Ask Mary – she’s a mine of information on the subject!
 They have started an investigation and hope to get to the bottom of the problem
soon.
 I don’t want the newspapers digging into my private life.
 She had tried to bury the memory of it for years.
 New developments in the scandal emerged over the weekend.
 I think we need to get things out in the open and talk about them honestly.
 The city is home to a vibrant underground music scene.

When a meaning is obvious and easy to understand we use a reversal of the idiom:

 We need new financial transparency regulations.

 I understand you – your message is crystal clear.

Interestingly, if we have an exam to prepare for or a bill to pay, many of us adopt a very
interesting strategy – often called the ‘Ostrich method!‘

 This is no way to run a company – whenever there’s a problem you just put
your head in the sand and hope it will go away!

Examples of English Expressions about

Intelligence:
 John came top of his class in all of his tests again – he’s a real bright spark!
 People come from all over the world to find enlightenment at the meditation
centre.
  The recent discovery of King Richard’s body has thrown light on his actual
cause of death.
 This film is really dull – when is something interesting going to happen?
 He was always a brilliant student and it was no surprise when he won the
scholarship.
 New evidence has recently come to light that could lead to further charges in
the case.
 Let’s keep Sarah in the dark about it for now – she loves a good surprise.
 I think that his political supporters are pretty dim-witted, they don’t seem to
know much about the world.
 These kinds of injuries were more common back in the Dark Ages of NFL
concussion awareness.
 Well that was a very illuminating lecture – I think I really get it now!

Examples of English Expressions About

Opinions:
 I don’t want him to come to dinner – he has very right-wing views.
 I think the royal family look down on us all.
 How are things on your side of the political fence?
 There has always been a complex political landscape in the country.
 Artists and musicians often look at life in new and interesting ways.
 We’ll give you all the support you need – we’re behind you all the way.
 From my point of view, I think that it’s a very good deal.
 We need more information to give us a better perspective of this situation.
 It’s not fair – whenever there’s an argument you always take his side!

Notice that ‘stand’ can be used in both senses:

 From where I stand it looks like the economy is going nowhere.

 Where do you stand on nuclear energy?

Perhaps it’s not surprising to note that altitude affects morals:

  I’ve always looked up to my Mum; she’s been an inspiration to me.
 I think we hold the moral high ground on this issue.

Also, the two sides of an argument are often separated by some kind of barrier:

 He’s always sitting on the fence whenever there’s an argument.