English Idioms
🇬🇧
In English
In English
Practice Known Questions
Stay up to date with your due questions
Complete 5 questions to enable practice
Exams
Exam: Test your skills
Test your skills in exam mode
Learn New Questions
Manual Mode [BETA]
The course owner has not enabled manual mode
Specific modes
Learn with flashcards
multiple choiceMultiple choice mode
SpeakingAnswer with voice
TypingTyping only mode
English Idioms - Leaderboard
English Idioms - Details
Levels:
Questions:
155 questions
| 🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
| A good thing that seemed bad at first | A blessing in disguise |
| Something common | A dime a dozen |
| Avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable | Beat around the bush |
| Better to arrive late than not to come at all | Better late than never |
| To get something over with because it is inevitable | Bite the bullet |
| Good luck | Break a leg |
| Stop working on something | Call it a day |
| Don't be so critical | Cut somebody some slack |
| Doing something poorly in order to save time or money | Cutting corners |
| Slow down | Easy does it |
| Get out of control | Get out of hand |
| Do the thing you've been wanting to do so you can move on | Get something out of your system |
| Work better or leave | Get your act together |
| Trust what someone says | Give someone the benefit of the doubt |
| Start over | Go back to the drawing board |
| Don't give up | Hang in there |
| Go to sleep | Hit the sack |
| It's not complicated | It's not rocket science |
| To not hold someone responsible for something | Let someone off the hook |
| Tell something briefly | Make a long story short |
| It's too late | Miss the boat |
| You have to work for what you want | No pain, no gain |
| Doing a good job | On the ball |
| To joke with someone | Pull someone's leg |
| Calm down | Pull yourself together |
| Things are going well so far | So far so good |
| The person we were just talking about showed up! | Speak of the devil |
| My patience has run out | That's the last straw |
| An ideal situation | The best of both worlds |
| You don't notice how long something lasts when it's fun | Time flies when you're having fun |
| To get upset | To get bent out of shape |
| Make a problem worse | To make matters worse |
| Sick | Under the weather |
| Let's not talk about that problem right now | We'll cross that bridge when we come to it |
| Understand something complicated | Wrap your head around something |
| That's true, I agree | You can say that again |
| I have no idea | Your guess is as good as mine |
| What you have is worth more than what you might have later | A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush |
| Tell me what you're thinking | A penny for your thoughts |
| Money you save today you can spend later | A penny saved is a penny earned |
| The worst possible situation | A perfect storm |
| Better to show than tell | A picture is worth 1000 words |
| Believe what people do and not what they say | Actions speak louder than words |
| To make a bad situation worse | Add insult to injury |
| To be mistaken, to be looking for solutions in the wrong place | Barking up the wrong tree |
| People who are alike are often friends (usually used negatively) | Birds of a feather flock together |
| Take on a project that you cannot finish | Bite off more than you can chew |
| Make people feel more comfortable | Break the ice |
| Just barely | By the skin of your teeth |
| Comparing two things that cannot be compared | Comparing apples to oranges |
| Very expensive | Costs an arm and a leg |
| Do something without having planned beforehand | Do something at the drop of a hat |
| Treat people fairly. Also known as "The Golden Rule" | Do unto others as you would have them do unto you |
| Don't count on something good happening until it's happened. | Don't count your chickens before they hatch |
| There's no reason to complain about something that can't be fixed | Don't cry over spilt milk |
| You're not very good at this | Don't give up your day job |
| What you're doing is too risky | Don't put all your eggs in one basket |
| Good things come after bad things | Every cloud has a silver lining |
| Get treated the way you've been treating others (negative) | Get a taste of your own medicine |
| Ignore someone | Give someone the cold shoulder |
| To do something pointless | Go on a wild goose chase |
| Be patient | Good things come to those who wait |
| He has bigger things to take care of than what we are talking about now | He has bigger fish to fry |
| The son is like the father | He's a chip off the old block |
| Get something exactly right | Hit the nail on the head |
| You're better off not knowing | Ignorance is bliss |
| This isn't over yet | It ain't over till the fat lady sings |
| You're just as bad as I am | It takes one to know one |
| It's easy | It's a piece of cake |
| It's raining hard | It's raining cats and dogs |
| Get two things done with a single action | Kill two birds with one stone |
| Give away a secret | Let the cat out of the bag |
| I made a mistake | Live and learn |
| Take only calculated risks | Look before you leap |
| Rarely | Once in a blue moon |
| To argue the opposite, just for the sake of argument | Play devil's advocate |
| Put a projet on hold | Put something on ice |
| To spoil something | Rain on someone's parade |
| Saving money for later | Saving for a rainy day |
| Reliability is more important than speed | Slow and steady wins the race |
| Give away a secret | Spill the beans |
| Postpone a plan | Take a rain check |
| Don’t take it too seriously | Take it with a grain of salt |
| It's your decision | The ball is in your court |
| A really good invention | The best thing since sliced bread |
| It looks good from a distance, but when you look closer, there are problems | The devil is in the details |
| The first people who arrive will get the best stuff | The early bird gets the worm |
| The big issue, the problem people are avoiding | The elephant in the room |
| Everything, all the way. | The whole nine yards |
| It's ok to miss this opportunity. Others will arise. | There are other fish in the sea |
| He seems crazy but actually he's clever | There's a method to his madness |
| Nothing is entirely free | There's no such thing as a free lunch |
| Take a risk | Throw caution to the wind |
| You can't have everything | You can't have your cake and eat it too |
| This person or thing may look bad, but it's good inside | You can't judge a book by its cover |
| People who don't understand something fully are dangerous | A little learning is a dangerous thing |
| Events have momentum and build upon each other | A snowball effect |
| No chance at all | A snowball's chance in hell |
| Fix the problem now because it will get worse later | A stitch in time saves nine |