Intermediate
Idioms and Phrases with Meanings: 130+ Common Idioms
Idioms and phrases are fixed groups of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the separate words. "It is raining cats and dogs" does not talk about animals: it means that it is raining very heavily. This lesson gives 136 common English idioms with their meanings and an example sentence each, grouped by theme so that they are easy to learn and revise.
These are common idioms that students meet in school English papers, in speaking practice and in everyday conversation. For idioms used at work, read Common English Idioms for the Indian Professional, and for idioms from public life, Idioms of Politics and Governance. Those idioms are not repeated here.
What Is an Idiom?
An idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal meaning of its words. A phrase is a group of words that works together without a subject and verb of its own; an idiomatic phrase is a phrase with a special meaning, such as once in a blue moon (very rarely).
How to Learn and Use Idioms
- Learn the whole idiom, not single words. Say "make ends meet", never "make the ends meet" or "join ends".
- Do not translate word by word. "Cost an arm and a leg" is not about injury, and an idiom from your mother tongue will not always have the same English form.
- Change the verb, not the idiom. The verb changes with the tense and subject (She hit the roof. He is hitting the roof), but the other words stay the same.
- Learn them in sentences. The example beside each idiom shows how it is used.
- Do not use too many. One idiom in a paragraph is natural; five in a paragraph sounds forced.
Tip: Idioms in Formal Writing
Most idioms belong to speech and informal writing. In a formal letter, report or essay, use plain words instead: write "The company faced serious financial difficulty", not "The company hit rock bottom". A few idioms (in a nutshell, at the eleventh hour) are accepted in semi-formal writing. If you are unsure, use the plain word.
1. Idioms About Success, Effort and Progress
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Go the extra mile | To make more effort than is expected of you | Our maths teacher goes the extra mile to help weak students after school. |
| Rise to the occasion | To deal with a difficult situation successfully | Meera was nervous, but she rose to the occasion and gave a confident speech. |
| Hit the jackpot | To have great and often unexpected success or luck | The small bakery hit the jackpot when a food blogger praised its jalebis. |
| Leave no stone unturned | To try every possible way to achieve something | The police left no stone unturned in their search for the missing child. |
| Nip in the bud | To stop something bad at an early stage, before it grows | The principal nipped the cheating in the bud by checking every bag. |
| Give it your best shot | To try as hard as you can | The entrance test is tough, but give it your best shot. |
| Make headway | To make progress, especially when it is difficult | We are finally making headway with the science project. |
| Come out with flying colours | To succeed very well, especially in a test | Kavya came out with flying colours in her Class 10 board exams. |
| Pull out all the stops | To make the greatest possible effort | The school pulled out all the stops to make Annual Day a success. |
| Back to the drawing board | Time to start again because the first plan failed | Our model did not work, so it is back to the drawing board. |
| Stick to your guns | To refuse to change your opinion or decision under pressure | Everyone laughed at her idea, but she stuck to her guns and was proved right. |
| Learn the ropes | To learn how a job or activity is done | It took Arjun a month to learn the ropes at his first job. |
In a Paragraph
Our team left no stone unturned before the science fair. We had a few problems, but we kept making headway, and in the end we came out with flying colours.
2. Idioms About Time
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Once in a blue moon | Very rarely | We eat at a restaurant only once in a blue moon. |
| At the eleventh hour | At the last possible moment | The committee changed the plan at the eleventh hour. |
| In the nick of time | Just in time; at the very last moment | We reached the station in the nick of time and caught the train. |
| Around the clock | All day and all night without stopping | Doctors worked around the clock during the floods. |
| Beat the clock | To finish something before the time is over | She beat the clock and finished the paper with two minutes to spare. |
| Against the clock | In a great hurry because there is very little time | The team worked against the clock to finish the stage before the show. |
| Bide your time | To wait patiently for the right moment | Rohan is biding his time until a better job opening comes up. |
| Call it a day | To stop work for the day (or stop doing something) | It was past nine, so we decided to call it a day. |
| Behind the times | Old-fashioned; not up to date | His ideas about girls' education are behind the times. |
| On the spur of the moment | Suddenly, without any planning | We booked tickets to Goa on the spur of the moment. |
| Kill time | To pass time doing something unimportant while waiting | I played a word game on my phone to kill time at the bus stand. |
| Time flies | Time passes very quickly | Time flies when you are enjoying yourself. |
3. Idioms About Money
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Break the bank | To cost too much money | A small gift will not break the bank. |
| Make ends meet | To earn just enough money to pay for basic needs | With rising prices, many families struggle to make ends meet. |
| Pay through the nose | To pay far too much for something | We paid through the nose for a taxi outside the airport. |
| Tighten your belt | To spend less money because money is short | After the job loss, the family had to tighten their belts. |
| Rolling in money | Very rich | Their uncle came back from Dubai rolling in money. |
| Save for a rainy day | To keep money for a time when you may need it | My grandmother always saved a little for a rainy day. |
| On the house | Free; paid for by the restaurant or shop | The owner gave us a sweet dish on the house. |
| Live from hand to mouth | To have only just enough money to live on | Many daily-wage workers live from hand to mouth. |
| Foot the bill | To pay for something | Her parents footed the bill for the school trip. |
| Dirt cheap | Very cheap | Mangoes are dirt cheap during the peak season. |
| A drop in the ocean | A very small amount compared with what is needed | My donation was just a drop in the ocean, but every rupee helps. |
| Money doesn't grow on trees | Money is limited, so spend it carefully | Switch off the lights; money doesn't grow on trees. |
4. Idioms About Feelings and Emotions
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Over the moon | Extremely happy | Sana was over the moon when she won the quiz. |
| On cloud nine | Extremely happy | He has been on cloud nine since he got the scholarship. |
| Walking on air | Extremely happy and light-hearted | After hearing the good news, she was walking on air. |
| Down in the dumps | Sad and low in spirits | Rahul has been down in the dumps since his friend moved away. |
| Feel blue | To feel sad | I feel blue on rainy Sundays. |
| Butterflies in your stomach | A nervous feeling before something important | I had butterflies in my stomach before the interview. |
| Hit the roof | To become very angry | Dad hit the roof when he saw my report card. |
| See red | To become extremely angry | He saw red when someone scratched his new bike. |
| Blow off steam | To get rid of strong feelings or extra energy | I go for a run in the evening to blow off steam. |
| Keep your chin up | To stay cheerful in a difficult situation | Keep your chin up; you will do better next time. |
| Bite your tongue | To stop yourself from saying what you want to say | I bit my tongue and did not argue with the guest. |
| Wear your heart on your sleeve | To show your feelings openly | Priya wears her heart on her sleeve, so we always know how she feels. |
| Pull yourself together | To control your emotions and become calm | Pull yourself together and tell us what happened. |
5. Idioms About People and Relationships
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Black sheep | A member of a family or group who is seen as a disgrace | Because of his bad habits, he was the black sheep of the family. |
| Birds of a feather | People with similar interests or nature (usually 'birds of a feather flock together') | Both love cricket; birds of a feather flock together. |
| Apple of one's eye | A person who is loved and valued above all others | Little Ananya is the apple of her grandfather's eye. |
| Bury the hatchet | To end a quarrel and become friends again | The two brothers finally buried the hatchet after Diwali. |
| Fair-weather friend | A person who is your friend only when things go well | Fair-weather friends disappear when you need help. |
| Hit it off | To quickly become friends | We hit it off on the very first day of college. |
| Give someone the cold shoulder | To ignore someone on purpose | She gave me the cold shoulder after our argument. |
| Take someone under your wing | To look after and guide someone, usually a younger person | The senior teacher took the new teacher under her wing. |
| The salt of the earth | A very good, honest and ordinary person | Our neighbour is the salt of the earth; he helps everyone. |
| Rub someone the wrong way | To annoy or irritate someone without meaning to | His loud jokes rub many people the wrong way. |
| Two-faced | Not sincere; saying different things to different people | Don't trust her; she is two-faced. |
| A shoulder to cry on | Someone who listens and gives comfort | When I failed, my sister was a shoulder to cry on. |
6. Idioms About Difficulty, Problems and Mistakes
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A hard nut to crack | A problem or person that is difficult to solve or understand | Trigonometry was a hard nut to crack for me in Class 10. |
| In hot water | In trouble | Vikram is in hot water for coming late all week. |
| Out of the frying pan into the fire | From a bad situation to a worse one | Changing to a stricter hostel was out of the frying pan into the fire. |
| A blessing in disguise | Something that seems bad at first but turns out to be good | Missing the bus was a blessing in disguise; it later crashed on that road. |
| Face the music | To accept the punishment or criticism you deserve | He broke the window, so he must face the music. |
| Add insult to injury | To make a bad situation worse | They cancelled our flight and, to add insult to injury, refused a refund. |
| Throw in the towel | To give up | After three failed attempts, he refused to throw in the towel. |
| The last straw | The final problem that makes you lose patience | His late reply was the last straw, so we changed the vendor. |
| A storm in a teacup | A big fuss about a small matter | The row over seating was a storm in a teacup. |
| Cross that bridge when you come to it | Deal with a problem only when it actually happens | We may need more funds later, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it. |
| Miss the boat | To lose a chance by being too late | Apply today, or you will miss the boat. |
| Cut corners | To do something badly or cheaply to save time or money | Never cut corners when you build a bridge. |
| Hit rock bottom | To reach the lowest or worst point | His business hit rock bottom, but he started again. |
| Easier said than done | Harder to do than to talk about | Saving half your salary is easier said than done. |
Common Mix-Ups
❌ Don't cry over the spilled milk.
✅ Don't cry over spilt milk.
❌ He is fit like a fiddle.
✅ He is fit as a fiddle.
❌ It is a bolt of the blue.
✅ It is a bolt from the blue.
7. Idioms About Health, Sleep and Energy
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Fit as a fiddle | In very good health | My grandfather is eighty but still fit as a fiddle. |
| Back on your feet | Healthy again after an illness | She was back on her feet within a week. |
| As right as rain | Completely healthy again (British) | After a day's rest, you will be as right as rain. |
| Off colour | Slightly unwell (British) | I am feeling a little off colour today. |
| Run down | Tired and not very healthy | Working long hours left him run down. |
| Burn the candle at both ends | To make yourself tired by doing too much, such as working late and getting up early | Don't burn the candle at both ends during exams. |
| A clean bill of health | A doctor's statement that you are healthy | After the tests, the doctor gave him a clean bill of health. |
| Hit the sack | To go to bed | I am exhausted, so I'm going to hit the sack. |
| Out like a light | To fall asleep very quickly | The baby was out like a light after her bath. |
| Sick as a dog | Very ill | I was sick as a dog after eating street food in the rain. |
8. Idioms About Work and Careers
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pull your weight | To do your fair share of the work | Everyone in the team must pull their weight. |
| Think outside the box | To think in a creative, new way | To solve this puzzle, you need to think outside the box. |
| Climb the corporate ladder | To move up to higher positions in a company | She climbed the corporate ladder quickly. |
| Hit the ground running | To start something quickly and well | The new manager hit the ground running. |
| Jack of all trades | A person who can do many jobs but is not an expert in any | Our school clerk is a jack of all trades. |
| Keep someone in the loop | To keep someone informed | Please keep me in the loop about the schedule. |
| Get down to business | To start the serious work | Let's stop chatting and get down to business. |
| Back to square one | Back at the very beginning, after failure | The software crashed, and we were back to square one. |
| Get the sack | To be dismissed from a job (informal, British) | He got the sack for being rude to customers. |
| Work like a Trojan | To work extremely hard | Our parents worked like Trojans to educate us. |
9. Idioms About School and Studying
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hit the books | To study hard | I must hit the books; the exams start on Monday. |
| Pull an all-nighter | To stay awake all night, usually to study | Many students pull an all-nighter before the exam. |
| Learn by heart | To memorise something so that you can say it exactly | We learned the poem by heart. |
| Get the hang of | To learn how to do something | It took a week to get the hang of the new app. |
| Brush up on | To improve something you already know | I need to brush up on my English grammar. |
| Draw a blank | To be unable to remember something | I drew a blank when the teacher asked the date of the battle. |
| Teacher's pet | A student who is the teacher's favourite | Nobody likes being called the teacher's pet. |
| Bookworm | A person who loves reading | My brother is a bookworm; he always has a novel in his hand. |
| Scrape through | To succeed or pass with great difficulty | He scraped through the Hindi paper with 35 marks. |
| Sail through | To succeed very easily | She sailed through the interview. |
| Learn the hard way | To learn from a bad experience | I learned the hard way not to leave my homework to the last minute. |
10. Idioms About Speaking and Communicating
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Beat around the bush | To avoid talking about the main point | Stop beating around the bush and tell us the result. |
| Speak your mind | To say honestly what you think | Don't be afraid to speak your mind in the meeting. |
| Hold your tongue | To stop yourself from speaking | I held my tongue even though he was wrong. |
| Read between the lines | To understand a hidden meaning | If you read between the lines, he is unhappy with the plan. |
| Put your foot in your mouth | To say something embarrassing or tactless by mistake | I put my foot in my mouth by asking her age. |
| Let sleeping dogs lie | To avoid bringing up an old problem | The matter is over; let sleeping dogs lie. |
| Talk of the town | Something or someone everyone is talking about | Her wedding became the talk of the town. |
| Word of mouth | News spread by people telling each other | The tuition class grew only through word of mouth. |
| Keep it under your hat | To keep something a secret | It's a surprise party, so keep it under your hat. |
| A bolt from the blue | A completely unexpected piece of news | His resignation came as a bolt from the blue. |
| Chew the fat | To chat in a relaxed way | The old friends sat on the veranda, chewing the fat. |
| Call a spade a spade | To speak plainly and honestly | I call a spade a spade: your essay needs more work. |
11. Everyday Life, Animals, Food and Weather Idioms
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Raining cats and dogs | Raining very heavily | It was raining cats and dogs, so the match was cancelled. |
| Cool as a cucumber | Very calm, especially under pressure | The captain stayed as cool as a cucumber in the last over. |
| Not my cup of tea | Not something I like | Horror films are not my cup of tea. |
| Out of the blue | Suddenly and unexpectedly | An old friend phoned me out of the blue. |
| Kill two birds with one stone | To achieve two things with one action | I'll post the letter on my way to the bank and kill two birds with one stone. |
| Cry wolf | To raise a false alarm, so that people do not believe you later | Don't cry wolf, or no one will help you in a real emergency. |
| A wild goose chase | A useless search for something that cannot be found | The address was wrong, so we went on a wild goose chase. |
| A red herring | Something that leads you away from the real point | The second clue was a red herring. |
| Take it with a pinch of salt | To not believe something completely | Take the rumour with a pinch of salt. |
| Butter someone up | To flatter someone to get something | He buttered up the boss before asking for leave. |
| Cry over spilt milk | To be upset about something that cannot be changed | It's done; there is no use crying over spilt milk. |
| In a nutshell | In a few words | In a nutshell, the plan failed. |
| Hold your horses | To wait and not act too quickly | Hold your horses; let's read the instructions first. |
| A dark horse | A person who surprises others with hidden talents or abilities | She was a dark horse and won the singing contest. |
| Eat humble pie | To admit you were wrong and say sorry | The minister had to eat humble pie and apologise. |
| Break a leg | Good luck (said before a performance) | Break a leg in the school play tonight! |
| Go bananas | To become very excited or angry; to go crazy | The crowd went bananas when Kohli hit a six. |
| Add fuel to the fire | To make an angry situation worse | Your sarcastic comment only added fuel to the fire. |
Idioms and Related Language Topics
Idioms are one kind of figurative language. To learn simile, metaphor and personification, see Figures of Speech with Examples. For sayings that give advice, such as "A stitch in time saves nine", see English Proverbs with Meanings and Examples. Verb-plus-particle combinations such as give up and look after are covered in Common Phrasal Verbs. You can also test yourself with the idioms practice test (basic) or the intermediate idioms practice test.
✍️ Quick Practice — Choose the Correct Meaning
- "Once in a blue moon" means: (a) every month (b) very rarely (c) at night (d) suddenly
- "She was over the moon" means she was: (a) very tall (b) lost (c) extremely happy (d) angry
- "In the nick of time" means: (a) just in time (b) too late (c) very early (d) after the exam
- "To break the bank" means: (a) to rob a bank (b) to cost too much (c) to save money (d) to open an account
- "A hard nut to crack" means: (a) a tasty snack (b) a difficult problem (c) an easy question (d) a strong person
- "To bury the hatchet" means: (a) to end a quarrel (b) to hide a tool (c) to begin a fight (d) to dig a hole
- "Pull your weight" means: (a) to lift heavy things (b) to measure yourself (c) to do your fair share of work (d) to gain weight
- "A bolt from the blue" means: (a) a bright colour (b) a repair tool (c) a planned event (d) an unexpected piece of news
Answers: 1 (b), 2 (c), 3 (a), 4 (b), 5 (b), 6 (a), 7 (c), 8 (d)
✍️ Quick Practice — Fill in the Blank with the Correct Idiom
Use each idiom once: hit the books, in hot water, fit as a fiddle, on the spur of the moment, a blessing in disguise, face the music
- My grandmother is eighty-two but still ______.
- Exams are near, so I must ______.
- Rahul is ______ because he copied the answers.
- We went to the beach ______; nobody had planned it.
- Losing that job was ______, as I found a better one.
- If you break the rules, you must ______.
Answers: 1 fit as a fiddle; 2 hit the books; 3 in hot water; 4 on the spur of the moment; 5 a blessing in disguise; 6 face the music
✍️ Quick Practice — Correct the Mistake
- She was on the cloud nine after the result.
- It was raining cats and dog yesterday.
- He put his foot on his mouth at the party.
- We should not cry on spilt milk.
Answers: 1 on cloud nine (no "the"); 2 raining cats and dogs; 3 put his foot in his mouth; 4 cry over spilt milk
Summary
An idiom is a fixed expression with a meaning that is different from its separate words. Learn each idiom as a whole, with a sentence, and keep the wording exactly. Use idioms in speech and informal writing, and in moderation; in formal writing prefer plain words. Revise the 136 idioms above by theme, then practise with the idioms practice test, and move on to workplace idioms.