100 Idioms in English with Meanings and Examples

In English, idioms are phrases where the meaning is different from the individual words. They are used in everyday conversations, books, movies, and songs. Understanding idioms is important for learners because it helps you speak more naturally and understand native speakers better. Learning idioms also improves your reading, writing, and listening skills. In this blog post, you will discover 100 idioms in English with meanings and examples, helping you master expressions that make your language stronger and more confident.

What You’ll Learn

100 Idioms in English with Meanings

#	Idiom	Meaning
1	Break the ice	To start a conversation in a friendly way
2	Hit the sack	To go to bed
3	Under the weather	Feeling sick or unwell
4	Piece of cake	Very easy
5	Cost an arm and a leg	Very expensive
6	Bite the bullet	To face a difficult situation bravely
7	Call it a day	To stop working
8	Once in a blue moon	Very rarely
9	Spill the beans	To reveal a secret
10	Burn the midnight oil	To work late at night
11	Hit the books	To study hard
12	Learn by heart	To memorize something
13	Pass with flying colors	To succeed easily
14	Put on your thinking cap	To think carefully
15	A for effort	To try hard even if not successful
16	Teacher’s pet	Favorite student
17	Brainstorm	To discuss ideas together
18	Go the extra mile	To do more than what is expected
19	By the book	To follow rules exactly
20	Cut class	To skip a lesson or class
21	Over the moon	Extremely happy
22	Down in the dumps	Feeling sad or depressed
23	On cloud nine	Very happy
24	At the end of your rope	Feeling frustrated or helpless
25	Cry over spilled milk	To regret something that cannot be changed
26	Hit the roof	To become very angry
27	Butterflies in the stomach	Feeling nervous
28	Wear your heart on your sleeve	To show emotions openly
29	Bite your tongue	To stop yourself from saying something
30	Keep your chin up	To stay positive
31	Back to square one	To start over again
32	Break a leg	To wish someone good luck
33	Hit the ground running	To start something with energy and enthusiasm
34	Bite off more than you can chew	To take on too much
35	Call the shots	To be in charge
36	Pull your weight	To do your share of work
37	In hot water	In trouble
38	Step up your game	To improve performance
39	Jump on the bandwagon	To follow a trend or popular activity
40	Hit below the belt	To act unfairly or insult someone
41	A fish out of water	Feeling uncomfortable in a situation
42	Raining cats and dogs	Raining heavily
43	The lion’s share	The largest portion of something
44	Cry wolf	To ask for help unnecessarily
45	Let the cat out of the bag	To reveal a secret
46	Hold your horses	To wait or be patient
47	Monkey business	Foolish or dishonest activity
48	Wild goose chase	A useless search
49	Beat around the bush	To avoid the main topic
50	Elephant in the room	An obvious problem that is ignored
51	Add fuel to the fire	To make a situation worse
52	Barking up the wrong tree	To blame or pursue the wrong person
53	Best of both worlds	A situation where one gets advantages of two things
54	Break the bank	To cost too much
55	Caught red-handed	Caught doing something wrong
56	Cross that bridge when you come to it	Deal with a problem when it happens
57	Cry over nothing	To get upset over something unimportant
58	Cut to the chase	To get to the main point
59	Don’t judge a book by its cover	Don’t judge someone by appearance
60	Down to earth	Practical and realistic
61	Every cloud has a silver lining	There is something good in every bad situation
62	Get a taste of your own medicine	Experience the same bad treatment you gave others
63	Give someone the cold shoulder	To ignore someone
64	Go the whole nine yards	To do something completely
65	Hit the jackpot	To be very lucky
66	In the blink of an eye	Very quickly
67	Keep an eye on	To watch carefully
68	Kick the bucket	To die
69	Last straw	The final problem in a series of problems
70	Let sleeping dogs lie	Avoid restarting a conflict
71	Make a long story short	To summarize
72	Miss the boat	To miss an opportunity
73	No pain, no gain	Hard work is needed to succeed
74	On the ball	Alert and competent
75	Out of the blue	Suddenly, without warning
76	Play it by ear	To improvise or decide as you go
77	Put your money where your mouth is	Back up your words with action
78	Rome wasn’t built in a day	Important work takes time
79	Shape up or ship out	Improve or leave
80	Shoot yourself in the foot	To cause problems for yourself
81	Sit on the fence	To avoid making a decision
82	Sleep on it	To think about something before deciding
83	Speak of the devil	Someone appears while being talked about
84	Stick to your guns	To stay firm in your decisions
85	Take it with a grain of salt	Don’t take something too seriously
86	The ball is in your court	It’s your responsibility to act
87	Through thick and thin	Support someone in all situations
88	Throw in the towel	To give up
89	Turn over a new leaf	To start fresh or change behavior
90	Up in the air	Uncertain or undecided
91	Your guess is as good as mine	I don’t know
92	Burn bridges	To ruin a relationship permanently
93	Get cold feet	To become nervous or hesitant
94	Go back to the drawing board	Start planning again
95	Have a change of heart	Change your opinion or feeling
96	In a nutshell	In a few words, summarized
97	Out of hand	Out of control
98	Throw caution to the wind	Take a risk
99	Under your nose	Very obvious or easy to notice
100	Water under the bridge	Something in the past that is no longer important

How to use these Idioms in English

1. Understand the Meaning Fully

Before using an idiom, make sure you know its exact meaning. Using it incorrectly can confuse people.

Example:

Idiom: Break the ice – to start a conversation.
Correct: “I told a funny story to break the ice at the party.”
Incorrect: “I broke the ice in the fridge.”

2. Use Idioms in Context, Not Alone

Idioms work best inside a sentence, not as a standalone phrase. Connect them naturally to your conversation.

Examples:

Hit the sack: “I’m really tired; I think I’ll hit the sack early tonight.”
Piece of cake: “Don’t worry about the test. It will be a piece of cake.”

3. Match Idioms to Situations

Idioms are tied to specific situations, so choose the right one for the moment.

Daily Life:

Under the weather – “I won’t come to school today. I’m feeling under the weather.”
Once in a blue moon – “We go hiking once in a blue moon, but it’s fun.”

School or Work:

Hit the books – “Exams are next week. Time to hit the books!”
Go the extra mile – “She went the extra mile to help her classmates.”

Emotions:

Over the moon – “He was over the moon when he got the scholarship.”
Down in the dumps – “She’s been down in the dumps since her team lost.”

4. Practice Speaking with Idioms

The best way to remember idioms is to use them in your own sentences. Start with simple phrases and gradually make longer sentences.

Example practice sentences:

“Don’t cry over spilled milk; we can fix the problem.”
“Let’s call it a day and continue tomorrow.”
“Hold your horses! Don’t rush into a decision.”

20 Most Common Idioms with Examples

#	Idiom	Example
1	Break the ice	“He told a joke to break the ice at the meeting.”
2	Hit the sack	“I’m exhausted; I’m going to hit the sack.”
3	Under the weather	“She’s feeling under the weather today, so she stayed home.”
4	Piece of cake	“Don’t worry about the exam; it’s a piece of cake.”
5	Cost an arm and a leg	“That new car costs an arm and a leg.”
6	Bite the bullet	“I decided to bite the bullet and start my assignment.”
7	Call it a day	“It’s late; let’s call it a day.”
8	Once in a blue moon	“We visit the beach once in a blue moon.”
9	Spill the beans	“He spilled the beans about the surprise party.”
10	Burn the midnight oil	“She burned the midnight oil to finish her project.”
11	Hit the books	“Exams are coming, so it’s time to hit the books.”
12	Over the moon	“She was over the moon when she won the competition.”
13	Down in the dumps	“He’s been down in the dumps since he lost his phone.”
14	Back to square one	“The plan failed, so we’re back to square one.”
15	Break a leg	“You have a performance tonight? Break a leg!”
16	Hit the ground running	“The new team hit the ground running on their first day.”
17	Let the cat out of the bag	“Don’t let the cat out of the bag about the gift.”
18	Hold your horses	“Hold your horses! We’ll leave in five minutes.”
19	The lion’s share	“She got the lion’s share of the prize money.”
20	Cry over spilled milk	“Don’t cry over spilled milk; just try again.”

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100 Idioms in English with Meanings and Examples

100 Idioms in English with Meanings