Here are some idiomatic expressions and their definitions.
IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS – What are idioms? Here is the definition of idioms with some examples with their meaning.
What are idiomatic expressions? These are the group of words with meaning that is not related to the literal meanings of the words used in the phrase. These expressions are colorful and makes a picture in our minds and we all love them. It’s always fun learning them and many of them are actually used in daily conversations.
Here are some examples with their meanings:
- Hard to swallow
Difficult to believe - Digging around
Looking for - A really bright spark
An intelligent person - Kicked the bucket
He’s died - Hitting the books
She’s studying hard - Break a leg!
Good luck! - Set out on a new career
Start a new career - Saunter through life
Live in a relaxed way - Follow in someone’s footsteps
Do something the way another person did it before - One step at a time
Do something slowly and carefully - Career path
The sequence of jobs someone takes that create their career - Milestones
Important events in a person’s life or career - Dead end job
A job that offers no opportunity for advancement - To be at a crossroads
When someone is at a point in life where their decisions will have long term consequences - He’s on the straight and narrow
He’s living in a morally proper way - To walk someone through something
To show someone how to do something - We need to come up with a road map
We need to make a plan - I wouldn’t go down that road if I were you!
I wouldn’t do that if I were you! - Don’t run before you can walk
Don’t try to do something difficult before mastering the basics - Inching forward
When progress on something is being made in small increments - To move at a snail’s pace
To move slowly - To get good mileage out of something
To get a lot of benefits from something - To have your whole life in front of you
To be young and have a lot of years to live - To get on with your life
To make progress in life goals after a difficulty - To tread carefully
To behave or speak carefully to avoid offending or causing problems with someone or something - To be a minefield
When something presents many possible dangers - We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it
To wait to worry about one problem at a time - Information superhighway
The internet - Time is money
Time is a valuable resource - A tasty (or juicy) bit of gossip
Very interesting or sensational gossip - To devour someone or something
To consume something very quickly - To add a pinch of salt to something
To acknowledge that someone exaggerates - To chew something over
To think about something before making a decision - To not swallow something
To not accept something as fact - To bite off more than you can chew
When someone makes a commitment that they cannot keep - To eat your words
When someone has to admit they were wrong - A warm welcome
A friendly welcome - The cold shoulder
An unfriendly welcome - When things heat up between people
When a relationship becomes romantic - To be cold-hearted
To be dispassionate or uncaring - A 24-hour hotline
A phone line that is always active - A very frosty reception
To receive a greeting that makes someone feel unwelcome - The Cold War
War without active fighting between nations - A warm smile and the warm handshake
A welcoming smile and handshake - Cold callers
People who call phones, usually for sales, who don’t have previous contact with the person they’re calling - We took the temperature of the group
Checked the overall opinion of a person or group of people about something - Most people were quite warm about the idea
People have a positive reaction to the idea - You’ll reap the rewards later
To collect the benefits of your work - To prune out
To clear, clean or groom something - Separate the wheat from the chaff
Separate what is useful or valuable from what is worthless - Rooted in
Based on something or connected to a source/cause - To cutback something
To reduce something, usually related to the amount of money spent - To dig deep
To use a lot of your physical, mental or financial resources to achieve something - Great growth
A positive change in the production of goods or services - Root and branch
Completely/utter - Seed money
Money that is used to start a small business or other activity - Bright shoot
Start something new, a new chapter - Plough its own furrow
To follow a plan or course of action independently - Green fingers
Have an ability to make plants grow, to be good at gardening - Build/make a good case
To argue that something is the best thing to do, to explain and give reasons why something should be done - A fabrication
To tell lies about something, completely made-up/invented - To be on solid ground
To be confident about the topic you are dealing with, or because you are in a safe situation - Build on
To use something as a base or foundation to develop something else - Shattered
To break something into a smaller form or into many pieces - Undermine your position
Behave in a way that makes you less likely to succeed - Demolish your arguments
To break down someone’s argument to an extent that it is no longer accurate or correct - Constructive criticism
Criticism that is useful because they can help improve something - Grounds for dismissal
A reason for you to be dismissed from your job, often due to your (negative) behavior - Completely groundless
Not based on any good reason - Grounded in fact
Something that is based on facts - Come to light
To be revealed - Unearthed
To find something that was lost or forgotten - A mine of information/gossip/data
Someone or something that can provide you with a lot of information etc. - Get to the bottom of
Find an explanation, often to a mystery - Digging into
To methodically reveal information - To bury the memory
To try to hide something, such as a memory, the truth etc. - Emerge
Something that is brought to attention - Out in the open
In public view or knowledge, everybody knows - Underground scene
An alternative culture, different from the mainstream of society and culture - Transparency
Something that can be seen by everyone/the public - Crystal clear
Easy to understand - Put your head in the sand
To ignore or hide from the obvious signs of danger - Bright spark
Someone that is highly intelligent - Throw light on something
To reveal something about someone/something, to clarify something - Dim-witted
Something/someone that thinks slowly, lacks intelligence - Dark ages
When something was not understood, a time when knowledge was limited - Look down upon
To view someone or something as unworthy - Side of the fence
Refers to either side of opposing views or ideas - Political landscape
The current state of things and how they are looking in the future - Behind you all the way
To fully support someone’s actions - Point of view
An opinion on something - Better perspective
A clearer view of something, a more thorough understanding of a situation - Take someone’s side
To support one person’s side of an argument - Where I stand
Your opinion, point of view - Look up to
To respect someone as a role model - Moral high ground
The status of being respected, a position of being ‘more’ moral than others - Sitting on the fence
Undecided on a decision, avoid making a decision on somethin