96 english idioms

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List of 96 most used English idioms that you’ll encounter regularly watching American movies or TV, or visiting the United States.

#	Idiom	Meaning	Usage
1	A blessing in disguise	a good thing that seemed bad at first	as part of a sentence
2	A dime a dozen	Something common	as part of a sentence
3	Beat around the bush	Avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable	as part of a sentence
4	Better late than never	Better to arrive late than not to come at all	by itself
5	Bite the bullet	To get something over with because it is inevitable	as part of a sentence
6	Break a leg	Good luck	by itself
7	Call it a day	Stop working on something	as part of a sentence
8	Cut somebody some slack	Don’t be so critical	as part of a sentence
9	Cutting corners	Doing something poorly in order to save time or money	as part of a sentence
10	Easy does it	Slow down	by itself
11	Get out of hand	Get out of control	as part of a sentence
12	Get something out of your system	Do the thing you’ve been wanting to do so you can move on	as part of a sentence
13	Get your act together	Work better or leave	by itself
14	Give someone the benefit of the doubt	Trust what someone says	as part of a sentence
15	Go back to the drawing board	Start over	as part of a sentence
16	Hang in there	Don’t give up	by itself
17	Hit the sack	Go to sleep	as part of a sentence
18	It’s not rocket science	It’s not complicated	by itself
19	Let someone off the hook	To not hold someone responsible for something	as part of a sentence
20	Make a long story short	Tell something briefly	as part of a sentence
21	Miss the boat	It’s too late	as part of a sentence
22	No pain, no gain	You have to work for what you want	by itself
23	On the ball	Doing a good job	as part of a sentence
24	Pull someone’s leg	To joke with someone	as part of a sentence
25	Pull yourself together	Calm down	by itself
26	So far so good	Things are going well so far	by itself
27	Speak of the devil	The person we were just talking about showed up!	by itself
28	That’s the last straw	My patience has run out	by itself
28	The best of both worlds	An ideal situation	as part of a sentence
30	Time flies when you’re having fun	You don’t notice how long something lasts when it’s fun	by itself
31	To get bent out of shape	To get upset	as part of a sentence
32	To make matters worse	Make a problem worse	as part of a sentence
33	Under the weather	Sick	as part of a sentence
34	We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it	Let’s not talk about that problem right now	by itself
35	Wrap your head around something	Understand something complicated	as part of a sentence
36	You can say that again	That’s true, I agree	by itself
37	Your guess is as good as mine	I have no idea	by itself

#	Idiom	Meaning	Usage
38	A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush	What you have is worth more than what you might have later	by itself
39	A penny for your thoughts	Tell me what you’re thinking	by itself
40	A penny saved is a penny earned	Money you save today you can spend later	by itself
41	A perfect storm	the worst possible situation	as part of a sentence
42	A picture is worth 1000 words	Better to show than tell	by itself
43	Actions speak louder than words	Believe what people do and not what they say	by itself
44	Add insult to injury	To make a bad situation worse	as part of a sentence
45	Barking up the wrong tree	To be mistaken, to be looking for solutions in the wrong place	as part of a sentence
46	Birds of a feather flock together	People who are alike are often friends (usually used negatively)	by itself
47	Bite off more than you can chew	Take on a project that you cannot finish	as part of a sentence
48	Break the ice	Make people feel more comfortable	as part of a sentence
49	By the skin of your teeth	Just barely	as part of a sentence
50	Comparing apples to oranges	Comparing two things that cannot be compared	as part of a sentence
51	Costs an arm and a leg	Very expensive	as part of a sentence
52	Do something at the drop of a hat	Do something without having planned beforehand	as part of a sentence
53	Do unto others as you would have them do unto you	Treat people fairly. Also known as “The Golden Rule”	by itself
54	Don’t count your chickens before they hatch	Don’t count on something good happening until it’s happened.	by itself
55	Don’t cry over spilt milk	There’s no reason to complain about something that can’t be fixed	by itself
56	Don’t give up your day job	You’re not very good at this	by itself
57	Don’t put all your eggs in one basket	What you’re doing is too risky	by itself
58	Every cloud has a silver lining	Good things come after bad things	by itself
59	Get a taste of your own medicine	Get treated the way you’ve been treating others (negative)	as part of a sentence
60	Give someone the cold shoulder	Ignore someone	as part of a sentence
61	Go on a wild goose chase	To do something pointless	as part of a sentence
62	Good things come to those who wait	Be patient	by itself
63	He has bigger fish to fry	He has bigger things to take care of than what we are talking about now	by itself
64	He’s a chip off the old block	The son is like the father	by itself
65	Hit the nail on the head	Get something exactly right	by itself
66	Ignorance is bliss	You’re better off not knowing	by itself
67	It ain’t over till the fat lady sings	This isn’t over yet	by itself
68	It takes one to know one	You’re just as bad as I am	by itself
69	It’s a piece of cake	It’s easy	by itself
70	It’s raining cats and dogs	It’s raining hard	by itself
71	Kill two birds with one stone	Get two things done with a single action	by itself
72	Let the cat out of the bag	Give away a secret	as part of a sentence
73	Live and learn	I made a mistake	by itself
74	Look before you leap	Take only calculated risks	by itself
75	On thin ice	On probation. If you make another mistake, there will be trouble.	as part of a sentence
76	Once in a blue moon	Rarely	as part of a sentence
77	Play devil’s advocate	To argue the opposite, just for the sake of argument	as part of a sentence
78	Put something on ice	Put a projet on hold	as part of a sentence
79	Rain on someone’s parade	To spoil something	as part of a sentence
80	Saving for a rainy day	Saving money for later	as part of a sentence
81	Slow and steady wins the race	Reliability is more important than speed	by itself
82	Spill the beans	Give away a secret	as part of a sentence
83	Take a rain check	Postpone a plan	as part of a sentence
84	Take it with a grain of salt	Don’t take it too seriously	as part of a sentence
85	The ball is in your court	It’s your decision	by itself
86	The best thing since sliced bread	A really good invention	as part of a sentence
87	The devil is in the details	It looks good from a distance, but when you look closer, there are problems	by itself
88	The early bird gets the worm	The first people who arrive will get the best stuff	by itself
89	The elephant in the room	The big issue, the problem people are avoiding	as part of a sentence
90	The whole nine yards	Everything, all the way.	as part of a sentence
91	There are other fish in the sea	It’s ok to miss this opportunity. Others will arise.	by itself
92	There’s a method to his madness	He seems crazy but actually he’s clever	by itself
93	There’s no such thing as a free lunch	Nothing is entirely free	by itself
94	Throw caution to the wind	Take a risk	as part of a sentence
95	You can’t have your cake and eat it too	You can’t have everything	by itself
96	You can’t judge a book by its cover	This person or thing may look bad, but it’s good inside	by itself

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96 english idioms