Idioms Examples! Idioms for Kids! How do you often use English idioms in daily life? Learning to use common idioms and expressions will make your English sound more native, so it’s a good idea to master some of these expressions. Following is a list of commonly used English idioms examples for you to get started.
Table of Contents
Idioms Examples & their Meaning
What is an idiom?
An idiom is a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., rain cats and dogs, see the light ).
Idioms Examples (A-G)
- A little bird told me
Meaning: receive the information from a source not to be overtly exposed
- An arm and a leg
Meaning: a lot of money
- A blessing in disguise
Meaning: a good thing that seemed bad at first
- A dime a dozen
Meaning: Something common
- Add insult to injury
Meaning: worsen an unfavorable situation
- Against The Clock
Meaning: Rushed and short on time.
- A stone’s throw
Meaning: a short distance
- A short fuse
Meaning: the personality trait of being quick to anger
- A penny for your thoughts
Meaning: used to inquire into the thoughts
- A thumbs up
Meaning: that’s good
- Be all ears
Meaning: carefully listen, eager
- Blow smoke
Meaning: speak with a lack of credibility, sense
- Bite the bullet
Meaning: force yourself to do something difficult or unpleasant
- Beat around the bush
Meaning: Avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable
- Better late than never
Meaning: Better to arrive late than not to come at all
- Bite the bullet
Meaning: To get something over with because it is inevitable
- Break a leg
Meaning: Good luck
- Call it a day
Meaning: Stop working on something
- Chip on his shoulder
Meaning: Angry today about something that occured in the past.
- Cut somebody some slack
Meaning: Don’t be so critical
- Cutting corners
Meaning: Doing something poorly in order to save time or money
- Down in the dumps
Meaning: very sad and without much interest in life
- Easy does it
Meaning: Slow down
- Far cry from
Meaning: Very different from.
- Get out of hand
Meaning: Get out of control
- Get something out of your system
Meaning: Do the thing you’ve been wanting to do so you can move on
- Get your act together
Meaning: Work better or leave
- Give someone the benefit of the doubt
Meaning: Trust what someone says
- Go bananas
Meaning: to become extremely angry
- Go back to the drawing board
Meaning: Start over
Idioms Examples (H-P)
- Have a bone to pick with someone
Meaning: to want to talk to someone about something annoying they have done
- Hang in there
Meaning: Don’t give up
- Hit the sack
Meaning: Go to sleep
- In touch
Meaning: in contact, or in communication
- It’s not rocket science
Meaning: It’s not complicated
- It’s not rocket
Meaning: science something is not difficult
- Let the cat out of the bag
Meaning: To share information that was previously concealed
- Let your hair down
Meaning: to enjoy yourself and start to relax
- Let someone off the hook
Meaning: To not hold someone responsible for something
- Make a long story short
Meaning: Tell something briefly
- Miss the boat
Meaning: It’s too late
- No pain, no gain
Meaning: You have to work for what you want
- Not playing with a full deck
Meaning: Someone who lacks intelligence.
- On the ball (sports idioms)
Meaning: be alert, active
- Once in a blue moon
Meaning: very rarely, unusual or very infrequently
- Piece of cake
Meaning: a job, task or other activity that is easy or simple
- Pull someone’s leg
Meaning: To joke with someone
- Pull yourself together
Meaning: Calm down
Idioms Examples (Q-Y)
- Ring a bell
Meaning: seem familiar
- Run on fumes
Meaning: operate with few resources
- Sit tight
Meaning: wait patiently
- Sit on the fence
Meaning: to delay making a decision
- So far so good
Meaning: Things are going well so far
- Speak of the devil
Meaning: The person we were just talking about showed up!
- Take it easy
Meaning: relax, rest
- That’s the last straw
Meaning: My patience has run out
- The best thing since sliced bread
Meaning: a new invention that is likely to improve people’s lives importantly
- The best of both worlds
Meaning: An ideal situation
- Time flies when you’re having fun
Meaning: You don’t notice how long something lasts when it’s fun
- To get bent out of shape
Meaning: To get upset
- To make matters worse
Meaning: Make a problem worse
- Twist someone’s arm
Meaning: to persuade someone to do something that they do not want to do
- Up in the air
Meaning: not yet finished
- Under the water
Meaning: somewhat ill or gloomy
- We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it
Meaning: Let’s not talk about that problem right now
- Whole nine yards
Meaning: Everythings
- Wrap your head around something
Meaning: Understand something complicated
- You can say that again
Meaning: That’s true, I agree
- Your guess is as good as mine
Meaning: I have no idea
Leslie
Saturday 9th of March 2024
Thank you I need more idioms expressions
Aeryn
Monday 1st of May 2023
I like it. 120 all in one.
Nolan Luu
Monday 27th of June 2022
This is awesome all 120 is good:)
fernanda
Tuesday 21st of June 2022
this is better
Vivian
Friday 19th of November 2021
I love it!!!