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Most Important Idioms & Phrases

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No.	Idiom/Phrase	Meaning
1	A bear with a sore head	Irritated or in a bad mood
2	A bit of a dark horse	Person with hidden abilities
3	A bitter pill to swallow	A difficult fact to accept
4	A different kettle of fish	A totally different situation
5	A dog’s life	A difficult, hard life
6	A fish out of water	Someone who feels uncomfortable
7	A long shot	A wild guess or a risk
8	A memory like a sieve	A poor memory
9	A night owl	Person who enjoys staying up late
10	A pain in the neck	Annoying person or thing
11	A piece of cake	Something very easy to do
12	A red rag to a bull	Action liable to provoke someone
13	A red-letter day	A very important day
14	A sitting duck	An easy target
15	A storm in a teacup	A lot of fuss about something not important
16	A wild-goose chase	A hopeless search
17	Above board	Honest
18	Achilles heel	Weakest point of someone’s character
19	Against all odds	Despite the difficulties
20	Agree to disagree	Stop arguing because no chance of agreement
21	All along	From the beginning until now
22	All but	Nearly, almost
23	All in	Exhausted
24	All in all	When everything is considered
25	All the same	Yet, however
26	All told	Altogether; in total
27	An old wives’ tale	False belief
28	An unknown quantity	Person or thing one has no experience of
29	As a last resort	When all else has failed
30	As the crow flies	In a direct line or by a direct route
31	At close quarters	From a short distance
32	At large	Free, not caught
33	At the cutting edge	At the forefront of
34	Bark up the wrong tree	Have a false idea about something
35	Be ahead of one’s time	Have modern ideas
36	Be all at sea	Be in a state of confusion
37	Be all fingers and thumbs	Be awkward, clumsy
38	Be all very well	Appear satisfactory but not be
39	Be as busy as a bee	Very busy
40	Be as thick as a brick	Be stupid
41	Be beside oneself with anger	To be extremely angry
42	Be born yesterday	Be easily deceived or naive
43	Be broke	Have no or very little money
44	Be caught red-handed	Be caught while committing a crime
45	Be dying for something	Really want something
46	Be fit for	Be good enough for
47	Be for the high jump	About to be punished
48	Be full of beans	Be very lively
49	Be green	Be inexperienced
50	Be in a quandary	Be confused; undecided
51	Be in someone’s black books	Out of favour
52	Be in someone’s shoes	Be in someone’s position
53	Be in the dark about something	Be unaware of something
54	Be in the doghouse	Be out of favour, in trouble
55	Be in the know	Be well-informed
56	Be in the same boat	Be in the same (usually bad) situation
57	Be in two minds about something	Not be able to decide what to do
58	Be on the cards	Be likely to happen
59	Be on the defensive	Protect oneself because one feels insecure or threatened
60	Be on the up and up	Improve steadily
61	Be out of practice	Lacking practice
62	Be over the moon	Be elated
63	Be second to none	Be the best
64	Be sound asleep	Sleep deeply
65	Be the apple of someone’s eye	Be very precious to someone; be someone’s favourite
66	Be the perfect image of someone	Look exactly like someone
67	Be the splitting image of someone	Look exactly like someone
68	Be thrown off balance	Be surprised
69	Be tickled pink	Be really pleased
70	Be up and about	Have recovered from an illness
71	Be up in arms	Be very angry
72	Be worn out	Be very tired
73	Be/get soaked to the skin	Be/get very wet
74	Be/have a close shave	Barely avoid an accident or a bad situation
75	Bear fruit	Be successful
76	Beat about/around the bush	Avoid saying what one means directly
77	Beat someone black and blue	Hit someone repeatedly until bruised
78	Before one can say Jack Robinson	Extremely quickly
79	Black market	Illegal buying and selling
80	Blow a fuse	Suddenly get very angry
81	Blow one’s top	Become very angry
82	Blow the whistle on someone	Inform on someone; end their activities
83	Blue-eyed boy	Favourite person of someone
84	Bolt from/out of the blue	Something completely unexpected
85	Bone idle	Very lazy
86	Break a leg	Good luck (said to actors before performance)
87	Break even	Have income equal to expenses
88	Break the ice	Say or do something to make someone feel relaxed
89	Bring home the bacon	Earn money for the family
90	Bring something home to someone	Make someone understand something
91	Bring to mind	Recall something
92	Burn the candle at both ends	Exhaust oneself by working too hard
93	Burn the midnight oil	Stay up very late studying or working
94	By and large	Generally speaking; on the whole
95	By hook or by crook	By any means possible
96	By leaps and bounds	Very quickly
97	By word of mouth	Orally
98	Call a spade a spade	Speak honestly and directly
99	Call it a day	Decide or agree to stop doing something
100	Call the shots/tune	Be in control
101	Carry the can	Accept blame or responsibility
102	Cast aspersions	Criticize unfairly
103	Cast pearls before swine	Offer something valuable to someone who doesn’t appreciate it
104	Catch 22	A difficult situation from which there is no escape
105	Catch someone’s eye	Attract someone’s attention
106	Catch the sun	Become sunburned
107	Change one’s tune	Change one’s opinion or attitude
108	Chew the fat	Chat idly
109	Chicken out	Withdraw from something due to fear
110	Chip off the old block	Someone who resembles their parent
111	Clean slate	Fresh beginning
112	Clear the air	Remove suspicion or bad feeling
113	Come clean	Confess
114	Come hell or high water	No matter what happens
115	Come rain or shine	No matter what the weather is like
116	Come to terms with	Accept something unpleasant
117	Cost an arm and a leg	Be very expensive
118	Crack down on	Enforce laws or punish more severely
119	Crocodile tears	Insincere tears
120	Cross that bridge when one comes to it	Deal with a problem when it arises
121	Cry wolf	Raise a false alarm
122	Cut corners	Take shortcuts
123	Cut someone some slack	Be lenient with someone
124	Cut to the chase	Get to the point
125	Dead ringer	Exact duplicate
126	Deal a blow to	Damage one’s hopes
127	Devil’s advocate	Someone who argues against something for the sake of it
128	Dog eat dog	Ruthless competition
129	Don’t count your chickens before they hatch	Don’t assume success before it happens
130	Don’t put all your eggs in one basket	Don’t risk everything on one venture
131	Draw the line at	Refuse to do something
132	Drive a hard bargain	Negotiate effectively
133	Drive someone up the wall	Annoy someone greatly
134	Drop in the ocean	A very small amount compared to what is needed
135	Drop someone a line	Send a short letter
136	Dry run	Rehearsal
137	Eager beaver	Enthusiastic person
138	Ear to the ground	Be aware of what is going on
139	Eat humble pie	Admit one’s error and apologize
140	Eat one’s words	Take back what one said
141	Egg on one’s face	Embarrassed due to a mistake
142	Every cloud has a silver lining	There’s good in every bad situation
143	Face the music	Accept criticism or punishment
144	Fall on deaf ears	Be ignored
145	Feather one’s nest	Make money illicitly
146	Feel the pinch	Experience financial hardship
147	Fight tooth and nail	Fight fiercely
148	Fine print	Small print in a contract with important details
149	Fishy	Suspicious
150	Fit as a fiddle	In good health
151	Flash in the pan	Something that happens once but not repeated
152	Fly off the handle	Lose one’s temper suddenly
153	Foam at the mouth	Be very angry
154	Food for thought	Something to think about
155	Foot the bill	Pay for something
156	For donkey’s years	For a very long time
157	For good	Permanently
158	For the time being	Temporarily
159	From scratch	From the beginning
160	Get a kick out of	Enjoy greatly
161	Get cold feet	Become afraid to do something
162	Get one’s act together	Organize oneself
163	Get the ball rolling	Start something
164	Get the hang of	Learn how to do something
165	Get to the bottom of	Find the truth
166	Give someone the cold shoulder	Ignore someone
167	Go against the grain	Be contrary to one’s nature
168	Go cold turkey	Quit a habit suddenly
169	Go down in flames	Fail spectacularly
170	Go the extra mile	Do more than expected
171	Grab the bull by the horns	Face a problem directly
172	Graveyard shift	Night shift work
173	Green thumb	Good at gardening
174	Gut feeling	Instinct
175	Hand in glove	In close collaboration
176	Hang in there	Persevere
177	Hard up	Short of money
178	Have a heart of gold	Be kind and generous
179	Have one’s cake and eat it too	Want incompatible things
180	Head over heels	Deeply in love
181	Hit the nail on the head	Be exactly right
182	Hit the roof	Become very angry
183	Hold one’s horses	Wait patiently
184	Hot potato	Controversial issue
185	In a nutshell	Briefly
186	In hot water	In trouble
187	In the bag	Certain to be achieved
188	In the long run	Eventually
189	It takes two to tango	Both parties are responsible
190	Jump on the bandwagon	Join a popular trend
191	Keep an eye on	Watch carefully
192	Keep one’s fingers crossed	Hope for success
193	Kick the habit	Stop a bad habit
194	Kill two birds with one stone	Achieve two things with one action
195	Last straw	The final problem that causes failure
196	Let the cat out of the bag	Reveal a secret
197	Like a fish out of water	Uncomfortable in a situation
198	Look before you leap	Think carefully before acting
199	Make a mountain out of a molehill	Exaggerate a small problem
200	Miss the boat	Miss an opportunity
201	Not one’s cup of tea	Not to one’s liking
202	On the ball	Alert and competent
203	On the fence	Undecided
204	Once in a blue moon	Rarely
205	Out of the blue	Unexpectedly
206	Over the top	Excessive
207	Pay through the nose	Pay too much
208	Piece of cake	Easy
209	Pull someone’s leg	Joke with someone
210	Pull strings	Use influence
211	Put the cart before the horse	Do things in the wrong order
212	Rain cats and dogs	Rain heavily
213	Read between the lines	Understand the hidden meaning
214	Ring a bell	Sound familiar
215	Rock the boat	Cause trouble
216	See eye to eye	Agree
217	Shoot the breeze	Chat casually
218	Sit on the fence	Remain neutral
219	Spill the beans	Reveal a secret
220	Steal someone’s thunder	Take credit for someone’s idea
221	Straight from the horse’s mouth	From the original source
222	Take with a grain of salt	Be skeptical
223	Taste of one’s own medicine	Experience the same bad treatment
224	Throw in the towel	Give up
225	Turn a blind eye	Ignore
226	Under the weather	Feeling ill
227	Up in arms	Angry
228	Wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve	Show emotions openly
229	When pigs fly	Never
230	Wild goose chase	Useless search
231	Wolf in sheep’s clothing	Dangerous person pretending to be harmless
232	You can’t judge a book by its cover	Appearance can be deceiving
233	Your guess is as good as mine	I don’t know
234	Acid test	Proves the effectiveness of something
235	Actions speak louder than words	What you do is more important than what you say
236	Add insult to injury	To make a bad situation worse
237	After the watershed	Time for adult content on TV
238	Against the clock	Rushed for time
239	Ahead of time	Early
240	All ears	Listening intently
241	An arm and a leg	Very expensive
242	Around the clock	24 hours a day
243	Around the corner	Soon
244	As time goes by	As time passes
245	At the drop of a hat	Immediately
246	Back to basics	Return to fundamentals
247	Back to the drawing board	Start over
248	Bad apple	Troublemaker
249	Ball is in your court	Your turn to act
250	Barking up the wrong tree	Misguided
251	Beat around the bush	Avoid the main topic
252	Beat the clock	Finish before time is up
253	Bee in one’s bonnet	Obsessed with an idea
254	Behind the times	Outdated
255	Bells and whistles	Extra features
256	Best of both worlds	Advantages of two things
257	Best thing since sliced bread	Great invention
258	Better late than never	Better to do it late than not at all
259	Bide one’s time	Wait for the right moment
260	Big cheese	Important person
261	Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush	Better to have sure thing
262	Bite off more than you can chew	Take on too much
263	Black and blue	Bruised
264	Black and white	Clear cut
265	Black as night	Very dark
266	Black eye	Disgrace
267	Black market	Illegal trade
268	Black out	Lose consciousness
269	Black sheep	Odd one out
270	Blackball	Reject
271	Blacklist	Ban
272	Blackmail	Extort by threat
273	Blessing in disguise	Good thing that seemed bad
274	Blind date	Date with stranger
275	Blood red	Deep red color
276	Blood, sweat & tears	Hard work
277	Blow a fuse	Get angry
278	Blow up in the face	Plan fails badly
279	Blue blood	Noble birth
280	Blue collar	Manual worker
281	Blue in the face	Exhausted from effort
282	Blue ribbon	First prize
283	Bolt from the blue	Sudden surprise
284	Bookworm	Avid reader
285	Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth	Born rich
286	Bottom falls out	Collapse
287	Brainstorm	Generate ideas
288	Bread-winner	Main earner
289	Bring home the bacon	Earn living
290	Broken watch is right twice a day	Even fools are right sometimes
291	Burn the midnight oil	Work late
292	Bury the hatchet	Make peace
293	By the book	Follow rules strictly
294	Call it a day	Stop working
295	Cat nap	Short sleep
296	Caught red-handed	Caught in the act
297	Chew the fat	Chat
298	Clean bill of health	Good health report
299	Close but no cigar	Almost successful
300	Cold feet	Nervousness
301	Cost an arm and a leg	Very expensive
302	Cry over spilt milk	Complain about past
303	Curiosity killed the cat	Being inquisitive can get you in trouble
304	Cut the mustard	Meet expectations
305	Dark horse	Unexpected winner
306	Dead as a doornail	Completely dead
307	Devil’s advocate	Argue opposing view
308	Don’t cry over spilt milk	Don’t worry about past mistakes
309	Don’t give up the day job	Not good at something
310	Draw the line	Set a limit
311	Drop a bombshell	Reveal surprising news
312	Early bird catches the worm	Success comes to those who prepare well
313	Every dog has its day	Everyone gets a chance
314	Feeling blue	Sad
315	Fight fire with fire	Use same methods as opponent
316	Flogging a dead horse	Wasting effort
317	From the horse’s mouth	From the source
318	Get out of hand	Lose control
319	Give the benefit of the doubt	Believe without proof
320	Go the whole nine yards	Do everything possible
321	Have a screw loose	Be crazy
322	Hit the books	Study
323	Hit the hay	Go to bed
324	In the heat of the moment	Overwhelmed by current emotion
325	Jump to conclusions	Decide without facts
326	Keep something at bay	Keep away
327	Kick the bucket	Die
328	Let sleeping dogs lie	Avoid interfering
329	Let the genie out of the bottle	Release something bad
330	Make a long story short	Summarize
331	Method to my madness	Strange but purposeful
332	Mum’s the word	Keep quiet
333	Night owl	Stays up late
334	No stone unturned	Try every possibility
335	Off the hook	No longer in trouble
336	On cloud nine	Very happy
337	Out of the blue	Unexpected
338	Over the moon	Ecstatic
339	Picture is worth a thousand words	Visual is better than description
340	Play devil’s advocate	Argue opposite for discussion
341	Put a sock in it	Be quiet
342	Raining cats and dogs	Heavy rain
343	Rise and shine	Wake up
344	Rule of thumb	General guideline
345	Run out of steam	Lose energy
346	Saved by the bell	Saved by interruption
347	Scapegoat	Blamed for others’ mistakes
348	Sick as a dog	Very sick
349	Smell a rat	Suspect deceit
350	Son of a gun	Exclamation or term for person
351	Start from scratch	Begin from beginning
352	The ball is in your court	Your decision
353	The best thing since sliced bread	Great innovation
354	The elephant in the room	Obvious problem ignored
355	The whole nine yards	Everything
356	Third time’s a charm	Success on third try
357	Tie the knot	Get married
358	Time flies	Time passes quickly
359	To make matters worse	Worsen the situation
360	Under the impression	Believing something
361	Use your loaf	Use your head
362	Variety is the spice of life	New things make life interesting
363	Wag the dog	Diversion
364	Water under the bridge	Past and forgotten
365	When hell freezes over	Never
366	You are what you eat	Health depends on diet
367	You can’t take it with you	Enjoy life, can’t keep possessions after death
368	Your name is mud	In disgrace
369	Acid test	Ultimate proof
370	At loggerheads	In dispute
371	Baker’s dozen	Thirteen
372	Basket case	Nervous wreck
373	Below the belt	Unfair
374	Between a rock and a hard place	Difficult choice
375	Bite the bullet	Face unpleasant situation
376	Break a leg	Good luck
377	Burn one’s bridges	Destroy options
378	By hook or by crook	By any means
379	Call the shots	In charge
380	Carry the can	Take blame
381	Chase rainbows	Pursue illusions
382	Close but no cigar	Almost but not quite
383	Cold turkey	Abrupt withdrawal
384	Come clean	Confess
385	Cut the mustard	Perform satisfactorily
386	Dead ringer	Exact lookalike
387	Dog days of summer	Hot days
388	Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth	Don’t criticize gifts
389	Drive me nuts	Annoy greatly
390	Eat my hat	Express surprise
391	Every man and his dog	Everyone
392	Fall on one’s sword	Take responsibility by quitting
393	Fiddle while Rome burns	Ignore serious problem
394	Fish or cut bait	Act or give up
395	Fly by the seat of one’s pants	Improvise
396	From soup to nuts	Everything
397	Get one’s goat	Annoy
398	Give the devil his due	Acknowledge merit in enemy
399	Go bananas	Act crazy
400	Go down like a lead balloon	Fail badly
401	Go to the dogs	Deteriorate
402	Have one’s work cut out	Difficult task
403	Hit the sack	Go to bed
404	Hold your horses	Be patient
405	In the bag	Assured
406	Jump the gun	Start early
407	Keep one’s nose to the grindstone	Work hard
408	Let the cat out of the bag	Reveal secret
409	Make no bones about it	Be honest
410	Not playing with a full deck	Stupid
411	Off the record	Unofficial
412	On the wagon	Abstaining from alcohol
413	Out on a limb	Risky position
414	Pass the buck	Shift responsibility
415	Pull the plug	Stop something
416	Put on the back burner	Postpone
417	Rome was not built in a day	Things take time
418	Rule thumb	Basic rule
419	Saved by the bell	Rescued at last moment
420	Shoot the bull	Talk nonsense
421	Sit tight	Stay put
422	Skate on thin ice	Risk danger
423	Speak of the devil	Person appears
424	Take it or leave it	Accept or reject
425	The pot calling the kettle black	Hypocrisy
426	Throw in the towel	Surrender
427	Turn over a new leaf	Change behavior
428	Under the gun	Under pressure
429	Up a creek without a paddle	In trouble
430	Walk on eggshells	Be careful
431	When it rains, it pours	Misfortunes come together
432	You can’t teach an old dog new tricks	Hard to change habits
433	Zip one’s lip	Be quiet
434	A dime a dozen	Common
435	Beat around the bush	Avoid topic
436	Bite the bullet	Endure pain
437	Break the bank	Cost too much
438	Burn bridges	Ruin relationships
439	By the skin of one’s teeth	Narrowly
440	Call it a day	Stop work
441	Cut somebody some slack	Be lenient
442	Drawing a blank	Can’t remember
443	Easy does it	Slow down
444	Hang in there	Don’t give up
445	Hit the nail on the head	Exactly right
446	It’s not rocket science	Not difficult
447	Miss the boat	Miss chance
448	On the ball	Competent
449	Pull yourself together	Calm down
450	Speak of the devil	Person arrives
451	That’s the last straw	Final irritation
452	Wrap your head around something	Understand
453	You can say that again	Agree completely
454	Your guess is as good as mine	No idea
455	Break a leg	Good luck
456	Call it a day	Finish for the day
457	Hit the sack	Go to sleep
458	Easy does it	Be careful
459	Hang in there	Persevere
460	Get out of hand	Lose control
461	It’s not rocket science	Not complicated
462	Miss the boat	Miss opportunity
463	Pull yourself together	Regain composure
464	So far so good	Good progress
465	Speak of the devil	Person appears
466	Time flies	Time passes quickly
467	Under the weather	Ill
468	We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it	Deal later
469	Wrap your head around it	Try to understand
470	You can say that again	Strongly agree
471	Your guess is as good as mine	Don’t know
472	A blessing in disguise	Good from bad
473	A dime a dozen	Very common
474	Beat around the bush	Avoid saying
475	Better late than never	Better to arrive late
476	Bite the bullet	Face difficulty
477	Break a leg	Good luck
478	Call it a day	Stop
479	Cut somebody some slack	Don’t be critical
480	Cutting corners	Saving money/time poorly
481	Easy does it	Proceed carefully
482	Get out of hand	Uncontrollable
483	Get something out of your system	Do to stop wanting
484	Get your act together	Behave properly
485	Give someone the benefit of the doubt	Trust said
486	Go back to the drawing board	Start over
487	Hang in there	Don’t give up
488	Hit the sack	Go to sleep
489	It’s not rocket science	Not hard
490	Let someone off the hook	Not hold responsible
491	Make a long story short	Tell briefly
492	Miss the boat	Too late
493	No pain, no gain	Suffer to succeed
494	On the ball	Doing well
495	Pull someone’s leg	Joke
496	So far so good	Good so far
497	Speak of the devil	Person arrives
498	That’s the last straw	No more tolerance
499	The best thing since sliced bread	Great idea
500	Time flies when you’re having fun	Time passes quickly when enjoying

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One response to “Most Important Idioms & Phrases”

Study Planner for UPSC EPFO APFC 2025 Exam – cracktarget

August 7, 2025

[…] Idioms, phrases, proverbs. Practice: Reading comprehension passages. Current affairs. […]

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