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100 Idioms and Phrases

1. Penny for your thoughts: Asking someone what is on their minds

2. Curiosity killed the cat: Being Inquisitive can lead you into an unpleasant situation
3. Caught between two stools: difficult to choose between two alternatives
4. Far cry from: Very different from
5. Hit the sack: To go to bed.
6. It takes two to tango: Actions or communications need more than one person
7. Last straw: The final problem in a series of problems.
8. Not a spark of decency: No manners
9. See eye to eye: two (or more people) agree on something.
10. Wouldn't be caught dead: Would never like to do something
11. Whole nine yards: Everything. All of it.
12. Steal someone's thunder: To take the credit for something someone else did
13. Hoping against hope: Without hope
14. To play ducks and drakes: To act foolishly or inconsistently
15. No avail: Without any result
16. Cry for the moon: Ask for the impossible
17. Out of the way: Strange
18. In cold blood: Talent for speaking
19. Like a fish out of water: In a strange situation
20. In high spirits: Very happy
21. To all names: To abuse
22. A big gun: An important person
23. Turn a deaf ear: Disregard
24. Make up one’s mind: decide
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25. Bring to light: Disclose
26. At sea: Confused and lost
27. Take one to task: Rebuke
28. SHOOT FROM THE HIP: to speak directly
29. to make a special effort: take pains to please someone
30. SOLD ME OUT: to snitch on someone
31. CRY wolf: to call for help when you don’t need
32. in ages: for a very long time
33. in the black: the business is making money
34. sharp: exactly at a that time
35. twenty-four: every minute of every day, all the time
36. in the red: the business is losing money
37. once in a while: sometimes, not very often
38. Draw the line: To stop
39. Easier said than done: Not as easy as it appears
40. Fish out of water: To be out of place.
41. Go down in flames: To fail suddenly
42. Go the extra mile: To make an extra effort
43. Hang in there: Be patient.
44. In the nick of time: Almost too late
45. Plain as day: Obvious; clear
46. Play second fiddle: To be less important.
47. Step up you: To start performing better.
48. Stick your nose into something: to interfere
49. Sick and tired: to be bothered

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50. Devil's Advocate: to argue against a cause
51. Break the leg: break confidence.
52. Loose trinity: lose confidence.
53. Have mixed feelings: Be unsure of how you feel
54. Out of the blue: With no warning
55. Get cold feet: To get fear of doing something at the last moment
56. Speak your mind: Say what you really feel
57. Bee in her bonnet: upset
58. Doggy bag: A bag to take home leftovers
59. Hot dog: A person doing athletic stunts
60. Pig out: To eat a lot
61. Teacher's pet: The teacher's favorite student
62. When pigs fly: To say something is impossible
63. For the birds: Something that is not worth anything
64. Goose is cooked: Now you're in trouble
65. Horse of a different color: quite different
66. In hot water: Be in trouble
67. Miss the boat: You missed your chance
68. Out of the blue: with no warning
69. Play it by ear: Improvise
70. Slipped my mind: I forgot
71. Speak your mind: Say what you really feel
72. Second to none: The best
73. The icing on the cake: Something additional that turns good into great
74. Different kettle of fish: completely different

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75. At your wits end: at the limit of your mental resources, desperate and
withoutadditional options
76. Catch 22: a situation in which it’s impossible to succeed because of conflicting
rules or conditions
77. Dodged a bullet: barely escaped from a dangerous/disastrous situation
78. The crux of the matter: the most essential or main part of the problem
79. Grasping at straws: when you’re desperate and you’re pursuing even the slightest
hope or possibility
80. In Dire straits: in a very serious, very bad situation
81. You’ve got your work cut out for you: when you have a large and difficult task to
do in the future
82. Last resort: an option you use as a “last chance” when there are no other options
available
83. The tip of the iceberg: only a small part of the problem; the biggest part of the
problem is hidden
84. A vicious cycle: when one problem causes another problem, which then causes the
first problem again
85. Chip on your shoulder: upset about something that happened a while ago
86. Come hell or high water: obstacles will not stop you
87. Golden handshake: a big sum of money which is given to someone when he/she
retires
88. Mean Business: Being serious
89. Hear it on grapevine: hear rumors about something or someone
90. To be in doldrums: to be in low spirits
91. To sit on the fence: to be neutral

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92. A bird’s eye view: view from a high place to see a large area
93. A litmus test: a method that helps to know whether something is correct
94. Afraid of one’s own shadow: to be easily frightened
95. Black and blue: full of bruises
96. Bone of contention: a subject over which there is continuous disagreement
97. Eat humble pie: to apologize humbly
98. Give cold shoulder: to ignore
99. Hand to mouth: live only on basic necessities
100. Open Pandora’s box: to find a source of great problems

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