Color Idioms! In this lesson, you will learn a list of 10 color idioms in English. Each idiom includes meaning and example sentence to illustrate the context.
Table of Contents
Color Idioms in English
Learn 10 color idioms in English with meaning and example.
Black and blue
- Meaning: To be bruised either because of a beating or otherwise.
- Example: I am going to beat you black and blue.
Catch someone red-handed
- Meaning: To get caught doing something wrong, illegal or unlawful.
- Example: He was spying on the minister and the police caught him red-handed.
Green with envy
- Meaning: To feel extremely jealous.
- Example: His expensive car made me go green with envy.
Off color
- Meaning: A term used for someone looking weak or unwell.
- Example: He’d recovered from the attack but he still looked off color.
Once in a blue moon
- Meaning: To refer to something that occurs very rarely.
- Example: I meet him only once in a blue moon.
See red
- Meaning: To be extremely angry about something
- Example: After she betrayed him, he was seeing red.
To show your true colors
- Meaning: When someone shows their true colors, they reveal the kind of person they really are.
- Example: Only in times of need do friends show you their true colors.
To pass with flying colors
- Meaning: To pass something with flying colors is to do very well.
- Example: I had thought I wouldn’t clear the exams but I passed with flying colors.
Whitewash
- Meaning: To whitewash something is to cover up its flaws.
- Example: The Indian government has been accused of trying to whitewash the Commonwealth games scandal.
Golden opportunity
- Meaning: A golden opportunity represents an opportunity that is very hard to come by and rather unexpected.
- Example: The deal was a golden opportunity and anyone would have been foolish to have not signed it.