USEFUL IDIOMS AND PHRASES

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush Having something that is certain is much better than taking a risk for
more, because chances are you might lose everything.

A Blessing In Disguise Something good that isn’t recognized at first.

A Fool And His Money Are Easily Parted It’s easy for a foolish person to lose his/her money.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Everyone involved must unify and function together or it will not work
Stand out.

A Leopard Can’t Change His Spots You cannot change who you are.

A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned By not spending money, you are saving money (little by little).

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words A visual presentation is far more descriptive than words.

A Piece of Cake A task that can be accomplished very easily.

A Slap on the Wrist A very mild punishment.

A Taste Of Your Own Medicine When you are mistreated the same way you mistreat others.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Add Fuel To The Fire:

Against The Clock: Rushed and short on time.

All Bark And No Bite: When someone is threatening and/or aggressive but not willing to
engage in a fight.

All Greek to me: Meaningless and incomprehensible like someone who cannot read,
speak, or understand any of the Greek language would be.

All In The Same Boat: When everyone is facing the same challenges.

An Arm And A Leg: Very expensive. A large amount of money.

Apple of My Eye: Someone who is cherished above all others.

At The Drop Of A Hat: Willing to do something immediately.

Back To Square One: Having to start all over again.

Back To The Drawing Board: When an attempt fails and it’s time to start all over.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree: A mistake made in something you are trying to achieve.

Beating Around The Bush: Avoiding the main topic. Not speaking directly about the issue.

Bend Over Backwards: Do whatever it takes to help. Willing to do anything.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Stuck between two very bad options.

Bite Off More Than You Can Chew: To take on a task that is way to big.

Bite Your Tongue: To avoid talking.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water: The family bond is closer than anything else.

Blue Moon (e.g.: once in a blue moon): A rare event or occurrence.

Break A Leg: A superstitious way to say ‘good luck’ without saying ‘good luck’,
but rather the opposite

Can’t Cut The Mustard Someone who isn’t adequate enough to compete or participate.

Close but no Cigar To be very near and almost accomplish a goal, but fall short.

Come Hell Or High Water Any difficult situation or obstacle.

Crack Someone Up To make someone laugh.

Dark Horse One who was previously unknown and is now prominent.

Dead Ringer 100% identical. A duplicate.

Devil’s Advocate Someone who takes a position for the sake of argument without
believing in that particular side of the argument. It can also mean
one who presents a counter argument for a position they do
believe in, to another debater.

Dog Days of Summer The hottest days of the summer season.

Don’t count your chickens before they Don’t rely on it until you're sure of it.
hatch

Don’t Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth When someone gives you a gift, don’t be ungrateful.
Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket Do not put all your resources in one possibility.

Drastic Times Call For Drastic Measures When you are extremely desperate you need to take extremely
desperate actions.

Drink like a fish To drink very heavily.

Drive someone up the wall To irritate and/or annoy very much.

Dropping Like Flies A large number of people either falling ill or dying.

Elvis has left the building The show has come to an end. It’s all over.

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining Be optimistic, even difficult times will lead to better days.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Almost everything and anything has been included.

Excuse my French Please forgive me for cussing.

Field Day An enjoyable day or circumstance.

Finding Your Feet To become more comfortable in whatever you are doing.

Finger lickin’ good A very tasty food or meal.

Fixed In Your Ways Not willing or wanting to change from your normal way of doing something.

Flesh and Blood This idiom can mean living material of which people are made of, or it can refer
to anything in the end.

Foam at the Mouth To be enraged and show it.

From Rags To Riches To go from being very poor to being very wealthy.

Get Over It To move beyond something that is bothering you.

Get Up On The Wrong Side Of The Someone who is having a horrible day.
Bed

Give someone the Slip To get away from. To escape.

Go The Extra Mile Going above and beyond whatever is required for the task at hand.
Good Samaritan Someone who helps others when they are in need, with no discussion for
compensation, and no thought of a reward.

Great Minds Think Alike Intelligent people think like each other.

Gut Feeling A personal intuition you get, especially when feeling something may not
be right.

Haste Makes Waste Quickly doing things results in a poor ending.

He Lost His Head Angry and overcome by emotions.

Head Over Heels Very excited and/or joyful, especially when in love.

High Five Slapping palms above each other's heads as a celebration gesture.

Hit The Books To study, especially for a test or exam.

Hit The Hay Go to bed or go to sleep.

Hit The Nail on the Head Do something exactly right or say something exactly right.

Hit The Sack Go to bed or go to sleep.

Hold Your Horses Be patient.

Icing On The Cake When you already have it good and get something on top of what you
already have.

If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another When one thing goes wrong, then another, and another…

In The Bag To have something secured.

In The Heat Of The Moment Overwhelmed by what is happening in the moment.

In Your Face An aggressive and bold confrontation.

It Takes Two To Tango A two person conflict where both people are at fault.

It’s A Small World You frequently see the same people in different places.

Its Anyone’s Call A competition where the outcome is difficult to judge or predict.

K
Keep An Eye On Him You should carefully watch him.

Keep body and soul together To earn a sufficient amount of money in order to keep yourself alive .

Keep your chin up To remain joyful in a tough situation.

Kick The Bucket Die.

Knee Jerk Reaction A quick and automatic response.

Knock On Wood Knuckle tapping on wood in order to avoid some bad luck.

Know the Ropes To understand the details.

Last but not least An introduction phrase to let the audience know that the last person
mentioned is no less important than those introduced before him/her.

Lend Me Your Ear To politely ask for someone’s full attention.

Let Bygones Be Bygones To forget about a disagreement or argument.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie To avoid restarting a conflict.

Let The Cat Out Of The Bag To share a secret that wasn’t supposed to be shared.

Like a chicken with its head cut off To act in a frenzied manner.

Long in the Tooth Old people (or horses).

Loose Cannon Someone who is unpredictable and can cause damage if not kept in check.

Make No Bones About To state a fact so there are no doubts or objections.

Method To My Madness Strange or crazy actions that appear meaningless but in the end are done for
a good reason.

Mumbo Jumbo Nonsense or meaningless speech.

Mum’s the word To keep quiet. To say nothing.

Nest Egg Savings set aside for future use.

Never Bite The Hand That Feeds You Don’t hurt anyone that helps you.

New kid on the block Someone new to the group or area.

New York Minute A minute that seems to go by quickly, especially in a fast paced environment.

No Dice To not agree. To not accept a proposition.

No Room to Swing a Cat An unusually small or confined space.

Not Playing With a Full Deck Someone who lacks intelligence.

Off On The Wrong Foot Getting a bad start on a relationship or task.

Off The Hook No longer have to deal with a tough situation.

Off the Record Something said in confidence that the one speaking doesn’t want to be attributed to
him/her.

On Pins And Needles Anxious or nervous, especially in anticipation of something.

On The Fence Undecided.

On The Same Page When multiple people all agree on the same thing.

Out Of The Blue Something that suddenly and unexpectedly occurs.

Out Of Sorts When you don’t feel like doing something (or anything at all).

Out On The Town To enjoy yourself by going out.

Over My Dead Body When you absolutely will not allow something to happen.

Over the Top Very excessive.

Pass The Buck Avoid responsibility by giving it to someone else.

Pedal to the metal To go full speed, especially while driving a vehicle.

Pick up your ears To listen very carefully.

Practice Makes By constantly practising, you will become better.

Perfect
Pull the plug To stop something. To bring something to an end.

Pulling Your Leg Tricking someone as a joke.

Put a sock in it To tell noisy person or a group to be quiet.

Raincheck An offer or deal that is declined right now but willing to accept later.

Raining Cats and Dogs A very loud and noisy rain storm.

Rise and Shine Time to get out of bed and get ready for work/school.

Rome Was Not Built In One Day If you want something to be as perfect as possible, then it's going to take time.

Rule Of Thumb A rough estimate.

Run out of steam To be completely out of energy.

Sixth Sense A paranormal sense that allows you to communicate with the dead.

Skid Row The rundown area of a city where the homeless and drug users live.

Smell A Rat To detect someone in the group is betraying the others.

Smell Something Fishy Detecting that something isn’t right and there might be a reason for it.

Spitting Image The exact likeness or kind.

Start From Scratch To do it all over again from the beginning.