Idiomatic Expressions With Their Meanings

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.

Idiomatic Expressions

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

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