Idioms |
Meaning |
A piece of cake |
It’s easy to do. |
A shot in the dark |
A wild guess |
A stitch in time saves nine |
It’s better to deal with problems immediately rather than wait by when they worsen and become much bigger. |
Against the clock |
Working in great hurry. |
Allow the dust to settle |
To allow a situation to become calm or normal again after a period of excitement or upheaval |
An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth |
If a person does something wrong, then they should be punished with the same thing done to them. |
Back against the wall |
Be in a difficult situation from where escape is difficult |
Back the wrong horse |
To support a person or action that later turns out to be unsuccessful. |
Barking up the wrong tree |
To ask the wrong person or follow the wrong course |
Be in a tight spot |
To be in a difficult situation |
Be off the mark |
Incorrect or inaccurate. |
Behind one’s back |
To do it secretly without someone's knowledge (used in negative way). |
Bend over backwards |
To try please or accommodate someone to an unusual degree |
Between the devil and the deep blue sea |
Caught between two undesirable alternatives. |
Bite off more than you can chew |
To try to do something that is too difficult for you |
Bitter pill to swallow |
Something such as failure or rejection that is difficult to accept, but has to be accepted. |
Blow hot and cold |
Vacillate. |
Blow your own trumpet |
Tell people how good or successful you are (used in negative way). |
Boil the ocean |
To accomplish something too ambitious. |
Break new ground |
To do something that was not done before. |
Burn the candle at both ends |
To work excessively hard, say, by keeping two jobs or by leading a busy social life in the evening. |
Burn the midnight oil |
To work late in the night |
Burn your boats/ bridges |
To do something that makes it impossible to change your plans and go back to the earlier position or situation. |
By the skin of your teeth |
Extremely narrow margin |
Call a spade a spade |
To speak truth even if it’s unpleasant |
Cast pearls before swine |
Offering something valuable to someone who does not recognize its worth. |
Change hands |
Change ownership. |
Change tune |
To change the way you behave with others from good to bad. |
Chicken and egg situation |
It is impossible to decide which of the two came first and caused the other one. |
Clear the decks |
Remove all hurdles to get started on that work. |
Close the door on someone |
No longer deal with it. |
Cool your heels |
Wait for something, especially when it’s annoying. |
Cry for the moon |
Make a demand that can’t be fulfilled. |
Cut corners |
Save money or effort by finding cheaper or easier ways to do things. |
Cut no ice |
Fail to influence or make an effect |
Draw first blood |
Cause the first damage to an opponent in a conflict or contest. |
Drive a hard bargain |
Argue hard to get a favorable deal. |
Eat humble pie |
Be humiliated by admitting that you are wrong |
Eat like a bird |
To eat little food. |
Eat like a horse |
Eat a lot. |
Eat your words |
Retract your statement or words. |
Egg on your face |
Look stupid and face embarrassment because of something you’ve done. |
Face the music |
The receiving end of somebody’s criticism or reprimand. |
Get someone off the hook |
Help someone get out of trouble. |
Go against the grain |
Do not do it or accept it because it is against your beliefs or principle. |
Go on record |
Say it publically and officially. |
Go through the roof |
To increase beyond all expectations |
Hand in glove |
Work closely with someone often to accomplish something dishonest. |
Handle with kid gloves |
Treat with extreme tact and care. |
Have a thick skin |
To be less affected by criticisms and rebuffs |
Have the last laugh |
Succeed from a seemingly losing position. |
Head and shoulders above |
Greatly superior to |
Head in the clouds |
Not in touch with the ground realities. |
Head over heels |
Completely in love. |
Hit the jackpot |
Achieve big success, usually through luck. |
Hit the nail on the head |
Exactly right about something. |
Hold your tongue |
Don't speak. |
In cold blood |
To do something violent and cruel deliberately and in an unemotional way. |
In full swing |
Highest speed or level of activity. |
In the same boat |
In the same difficult situation. |
In the same breath |
Two very different or contradictory things. |
Jump the gun |
To do something too soon without proper thought |
Keep an ear to the ground |
Be well informed of current trends, opinions, and happenings. |
Keep someone at arm’s length |
Avoid from becoming friendly with them. |
Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs |
To destroy something that gives you lot of money to get immediate returns |
Kill two birds with one stone |
To achieve two goals with a single effort. |
Leave no stone unturned |
To do everything you can to achieve your goal |
Left out in the cold |
Being ignored. |
Light at the end of tunnel |
Signs of improvement in a situation that has been bad for a long time. |
Like a fish out of water |
Feel awkward because you haven’t experienced that situation before. |
Live on borrowed time |
Continue to exist longer than expected. |
Look for needle in a haystack |
Looking for something small in a pile of other things or a vast area |
Make no bones about something |
To say clearly what you feel or think about it. |
Make one’s blood boil |
To make someone extremely angry |
Miss the boat/bus |
To miss an opportunity |
Move heaven and earth |
Make supreme effort |
No smoke without fire |
A suspicion or rumor is not for nothing. It usually has some basis. |
No strings attached |
Free of conditions. |
Not the only fish in the sea |
Not the only suitable thing or person one can find. |
Not your cup of tea |
Not the kind of person or thing you like. |
On cloud nine |
Very happy. |
On thin ice |
In precarious or delicate situation. |
Once in a blue moo |
Happens rarely. |
Over my dead body |
You dislike it and will do everything you can to prevent it. |
Pay someone back in his /her own coin |
Treat someone in the same way he/ she treated you. |
Pay through the nose |
Pay too much for something. |
Play your cards right |
To behave or work in a way that gives you an advantage or improves your odds of success. |
Point finger at |
Someone should be blamed |
Pour cold water on |
Criticize it to the extent that people lose enthusiasm to pursue it. |
Pour out one’s heart |
Reveal your thoughts or inner feelings. |
Put the cat among the pigeons |
Say or do something that makes lot of people angry or uncomfortable. |
Raining cats and dogs |
Raining heavily. |
Read between the lines |
To understand someone’s real feelings or intentions from what they say or write. |
Rub salt into someone’s wounds |
To make a bad thing worse |
Run around in circles |
To be active without achieving any worthwhile result. |
Save your skin |
Save yourself from an unpleasant or dangerous situation without thinking of what happens to others. |
Scrape the barrel |
Using something you do not want to but you’ve no option. |
See the light of day |
It finally happens for the first time. |
Sell like hot cakes |
Sell very fast. |
Separate the wheat from the chaff |
To separate valuable from worthless. |
Set in stone |
It’s very difficult to change. |
Set the record straight |
Quash misinformation about something by telling the truth. |
Show someone the door |
To ask someone to leave |
Small cog in a large wheel |
Someone or something that has a small role in a large setup or organization. |
Spill the beans |
To reveal a secret information unintentionally |
Spill the tea |
Share gossip |
Stab someone in the back |
Harm someone who trusts you. |
Start with a clean slate |
Make a fresh beginning forgetting what happened, usually bad, in the past |
Steal the show |
Get lot of attention or credit in an event or show. |
Stir up a hornets’ nest |
Provoke trouble |
Strike while the iron is hot |
To act quickly when the opportunity comes by |
Swallow your pride |
Do something even though it hurts your self-respect. |
Take a back seat |
Choose not to be in a position of responsibility or power. |
Take away your breath |
To astonish. |
Take the word out of somebody’s mouth |
To say exactly what the other person was about to say |
Test waters |
Try to find how people will receive your idea or action before actually launching it or telling people. |
The luck of the devil |
Extremely lucky. |
The other side of the coin |
The other point of view |
The pot calling the kettle black |
Accusing someone of faults that you yourself have |
Through thick and thin |
To do it whether circumstances are good or not. |
Throw a spanner in the work |
To disrupt or cause problems in an activity or project. |
To come to a head |
It reaches to the point of a crisis. |
Turn the clock back |
To return to the earlier period. |
Twist someone’s arm |
Make someone do something by pressurizing them |
Under a cloud |
Under suspicion or in trouble. |
Under someone’s nose |
Do it openly, although unnoticed. |
Up in arms |
Angry about something |
Walk a tightrope |
To do something that allows little room for error. |
Wash dirty linen in public |
Discuss private matters in public. |
Wear two hats |
To function in more than one capacity. |
Wear your heart on your sleeve |
Express your sentiments openly. |
White elephant |
Costs a lot (on maintenance etc.) to keep, but does little useful. |
Wild-goose chase |
A search that turns out to be time-wasting and unsuccessful because the thing being searched doesn’t exist or you were given wrong information about its location. |