To communicate fluently in any language, we need to learn its typical usage patterns and common phrases. Idioms are a great example of this. They also illustrate how cultural practices and patterns become codified in language, and thereafter continues to shape the minds of future generations due to the accumulated meaning over prolonged periods.
In this page, we explain and give examples of some common English idioms. In some cases, we also give whimsical commentary or link to interesting external resources, so make sure to stick around till the end!
Using these in your conversation or written material may make your language sound more rich, natural and stylish. This handy guide could also be helpful if you are preparing for your TOEFL or IELTS tests. In that case, you should also take a look at our article on oxymorons.
Enjoy!
Table of Contents
Slow on the uptake
If someone is said to be slow on the uptake, they need more than usual time to understand things, and often have difficulty with it. Conversely, if someone is quick on the uptake, they understand faster.
This phrase is often use to refer to individuals who are thought to be dim-witted, lacking intelligence or lacking charisma. It does not however mean that that person is outright stupid. Some scenarios where this phrase may be used are:
- At the art class, John was really slow on the uptake – he thought we were supposed to bring actual fruit for the still life drawing, not a picture of a fruit basket.
- While everyone was laughing at the stand-up’s joke, Brent seemed slow on the uptake and only started chuckling five minutes later, making everyone laugh again.
- When his doctors gently explained his prognosis to him, James was slow on the uptake, taking an agonizing minute to understand the gravity of his condition.
- Uncle Henry, bless his heart, was always slow on the uptake when it came to learning how to use new technology – he once tried to dial a number on the microwave.
- During their chess game, Simon, always having been slow on the uptake, took unusually long to realize he’d been checkmated three moves ago.
Beating a dead horse
Also called flogging a dead horse, this means to waste time doing something that is completely futile. People doing academic research love this phrase, and in the following case even modified it for a certain context:
Some examples of the idiom can be:
- Despite his many efforts to revive his old car, Jake realized he was just beating a dead horse and it was high time he bought a new one.
- Despite numerous meetings and endless presentations, Sandy was beating a dead horse trying to convince the board to implement the new policy.
- Noticing Garry still trying to light the rain-soaked firewood, Sally stifled a laugh, whispering to her friend, “There he goes, beating a dead horse again!”
- Every anniversary, we revisit the same old arguments with neither of us willing to budge, it really feels like beating a dead horse at this point.
- When she didn’t return any of his messages, Tom started to realise that chasing his girlfriend might be like beating a dead horse.
Jumping on the bandwagon
This phrase apparently originated in 19th century America, when horse-drawn wagons carried traveling musicians across towns and cities.
In common usage, it means a tendency of people to follow the latest trends regardless of whether it is applicable or helpful or relevant to their circumstances. Examples from our contemporary culture, including the AI-fication of everything includes:
- As soon as the new diet trend hit Instagram, my sister was jumping on the bandwagon, ditching carbs entirely even though she has an unnatural love for pasta.
- When mom and dad announced their plan to start a fitness routine, instead of wolfing down ice cream and snacks post-dinner, their decision had all us kids rapidly jumping on the bandwagon.
- Once Richard read about AI optimization techniques, he was quick to jump on the bandwagon proposing to use them in our small startup to improve our data analysis strategy.
- Remarkably, jumping on the AI bandwagon provided the startup an unexpected edge over their competitors, making their customer service more efficient and personalized.
- When one developer jokingly programmed AI to write sassy error messages, everyone found it so amusing; soon all developers started jumping on the bandwagon and our software started displaying all sorts of hilarious error messages.
Barking up the wrong tree
First of all, go check out the hilarious and informative site by Eric Barker, who also wrote a couple of books on these themes.
The phrase usually means ‘doing something in the wrong place’ – such as asking the IRS to forgive a private loan. However, if the ‘barking’ is a legitimate activity or need or request, the line between the ‘right tree’ and the ‘wrong tree’ can be surprisingly non-intuitive.
Anyway, here are some examples to illustrate the idea:
- For all her efforts, Maria realized she had been barking up the wrong tree when she found out the party was actually next week.
- In an amusing mix-up, Jim spent an entire hour lecturing a class of first graders on quantum physics, only to realize he was barking up the wrong tree and his lecture was meant for the University students two blocks down.
- During the investigation, detectives feared they might be barking up the wrong tree after a lack of evidence pointed to their initial suspect.
- Her tears fell as she realized she had spent decades chasing approval from her father, only to realize she had been barking up the wrong tree; it was her own approval she needed.
- Peter felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment in his futile efforts at convincing the school board to introduce mandatory arts classes, realizing that he was possibly barking up the wrong tree.
- At the movie premiere, the lead actress gave the cold shoulder to the up-and-coming starlet, leaving everyone whispering about an off-screen feud.
Bitten off more than you can chew
This is particularly relevant for the workaholics and the overly enthusiastic folks among us.
The phrase means to take on more responsibility and workload than one can handle, possibly leading to bad consequences for one’s health as well as the work in question. Note that ‘you’ can be replaced with someone’s name or pronoun.
As an aside, you should definitely check out our articles on focusing on the essentials and “saying no” to achieve work-life balance, whether in corporations, academia or elsewhere.
Examples that illustrate ‘bitten off more than you can chew’:
- Trying to organize the charity dinner, pick the kids up from school, and meet the work deadline all on the same day, Sarah had clearly bitten off more than she could chew.
- Samantha, always up for a challenge, decided to compete on a reality TV game show, but when she was asked to wrestle an alligator, she knew she had bitten off more than she could chew.
- As he wiped the sweat off his forehead, Robert couldn’t help but regret having bitten off more than he could chew, opting to paint the entire house in one day.
- After her mother’s passing, Celeste had taken on the responsibility of caring for six siblings and managing the family’s farm; in the silence of the night, it sunk in that she had bitten off more than she could chew.
- At the family gathering, Uncle Ben enthused about his grand plans to build a treehouse for the kids, but with a slip of the hammer and a sore thumb later, we all chuckled, realizing he’d bitten off more than he could chew.
Give someone the cold shoulder
This is one of those things that can seem justified and unhelpful, depending on whether you are the giver or receiver of the phenomenon.
Giving someone cold shoulder basically means to ignore that person, reducing or stopping communication, and so on. There are various interpretations and guides and advice on this common psychological tactic, including in relationships and dating. It is important to note that a cold shoulder treatment can go unnoticed (if you are the giver), or may be entirely in your imagination (if you are the receiver).
Obviously, we would like to point out here that if you are trying to improve your social and communication skills, our entire section on Social Intelligence may be helpful.
Examples of using the phrase can be:
- At the family reunion, Uncle Harry, in his usual goofy fashion, gave his ex-wife the cold shoulder by serving everyone at the dinner table and deliberately skipping her while serving the mashed potatoes.
- After the painful fallout between best friends Jenna and Sarah, Jenna found it unbearably hard attending the same school, only to get the cold shoulder by Sarah every day in the hallway.
- When Ms. Parker entered the coffee shop, the baristas didn’t mean to give her the cold shoulder but they were too caught up in their morning rush to pay attention.
- In the corporate world, Martin noticed his boss gave him the cold shoulder every time he attempted to raise a new project idea, not understanding that his boss just wasn’t interested. When Tina forgot her mom’s birthday, she expected to get the cold shoulder, but she didn’t anticipate the week-long silent treatment that followed.
Pull the wool over someone’s eyes
It means to deceive, to trick, to lie and so on. This idiom may have actually originated in clothing related contexts.
While deceiving anyone is generally frowned upon, we must admit that it can lead to the greatest source of amusement if done in a harmless, humorous way. Children and parents also frequently pull the wool over each others’ eyes, resulting in hilarious and educational moments.
Examples:
- Centuries ago, the master magician convinced the entire crowd he transformed into a bird, effectively pulling the wool over their eyes.
- Despite the glaring inconsistencies in his story, Daniel managed to pull the wool over his mother’s eyes, claiming he’d completed his homework.
- Last night was so much fun – when you pretended to be our long lost cousin, you really pulled the wool over Aunt Martha’s eyes!
- Though typically honest, Jennifer decided to pull the wool over her boss’s eyes about her plans to leave the company.
- Someday, she would forgive her husband for forgetting their anniversary, but never for attempting to pull the wool over her eyes about it.
See someone eye to eye
It means agreeing with someone about a specific topic, or generally about a viewpoint that requires substantial interpretation such as politics or religion. You should also check out this link for other eye-related idioms.
Although agreements and disagreements can occur across a vast set of situations, here are the usual 5 examples:
- Though we’ve been best friends for years, we just can’t see eye to eye on which is better: Cats or dogs.
- With tears rolling down her cheeks, she sadly admitted that she and her husband no longer see eye to eye on matters concerning their child’s education.
- As business partners, they may not always see eye to eye, but they trust each other’s judgement and experience.
- In a comic turn of events at the office, two colleagues, who couldn’t see eye to eye on the color of the office walls, ended up painting each of their own halves in their preferred shades.
- Although they respect each other, the two scientists often don’t see eye to eye regarding the interpretation of certain data.
Take it with a grain of salt
This phrase means that one should verify the claims before proceeding to believe or act on that information. Funny thing about such disclaimers is that, it is not given where it is most needed, i.e. people who say it are usually not trying to actively deceive their audience. How much “fact checking” can a single person realistically do, is indeed a perplexing and somewhat amusing question.
A similar phrase in other circles is “trust, but verify”.
Examples of using it:
- When Aunt Lucy started doling out relationship advice, I decided to take it with a grain of salt, considering she’s been through four divorces.
- Did you hear Patrick’s outlandish claim about spotting a unicorn in his backyard? You should take it with a grain of salt.
- While reading feedback about the hotel, Sarah decided to take the negative reviews with a grain of salt, after all, you can’t please everyone.
- As the residents of the town heard the mayor’s promise of reducing taxes, they took it with a grain of salt, they knew his past record.
- While watching the heartbreaking news about the stranded dolphins on TV, Sally advised her kids to take it with a grain of salt, as the media often exaggerates these situations for ratings.
Walking on eggshells
It means acting carefully around specific people regarding socially sensitive or delicate matter. While this may seem like a family and relationship-ish thing, it surprisingly shows up across a lot of social contexts such as dealing with irate clients or narcissistic bosses and so on.
Typical usage can include typical sensitive social situations, such as:
- Ever since Linda put the wrong type of cheese on Brian’s sandwich, she’s been walking on eggshells at work, careful not to make any more “gourmet” mistakes.
- When the team leader found out about the hidden mistakes in his project, he had to start walking on eggshells around his boss, who was known for his short temper.
- After offending the easily irritable drama teacher with a small comment about her show, Emily felt like she was daily walking on eggshells in theater class.
- Once during a stand-up gig, the comedian made a wacky skit about how he walks on eggshells when he forgets his wife’s birthday, invariably finding himself in the ‘dog house’.
- As she read the hundredth condolence message and braced herself to respond yet again, she felt like she was walking on eggshells, cautious not to come off as too cold or unfeeling.
Burn one’s bridges
Also ‘burn your bridges’ etc., this idiom means to act in ways that makes someone permanently unwelcome in other people’s minds.
Examples include:
- After getting the tattoo of her boyfriend’s face on her arm, she feared she might have burnt her bridges with any future love interests.
- In a fit of passion, he declared he would burn his bridges with his family if they didn’t support his decision to drop out of college and join a band.
- She regretted the heated argument with her boss; she had only intended to quit her job, not to burn her bridges.
- When the mouse said to the cheese, “I’d rather starve than be with you,” he probably didn’t realise he was burning his bridges with his only food source.
- John’s decision to publicly expose the company’s malpractices not only cost him his job but also burnt his bridges with his former colleagues and sundered his chances of finding employment in the industry.
Fool’s gold
It means anything that looks valuable but is actually lacking in any value.
The term however relates or maybe originates from an Iron compound called Pyrite which has a “metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold“, making the idiom more literal than the rest of this list. There is also a 2008 adventure-comedy movie with this term!
Example usages of the idiom could be:
- Gary thought he had it all figured out with his Bitcoin investments, until it turned out to be fool’s gold and he was left with worthless internet points.
- After devouring the supposed ‘five-star’ meal, Jake grimaced, realizing that the food was just fool’s gold, hyped up but lacking in real flavor and quality.
- In life, it is crucial to discern what is truly important from the fool’s gold that offers only temporary satisfaction.
- When he realized his promising business venture was nothing but fool’s gold, his dreams were brutally shattered.
- Ted can’t help but laugh at the irony when the “priceless” artifact featured in his prank show was identified as fool’s gold by a kid in the audience.
Eat crow
This idiom may also have literal origins, being linked to — uhmm — people literally eating crows. And here is delicious looking menu from a food outlet called “Eat Crow”:
However the idiom means ‘to admit a mistake and to apologize’, presumably because crow is associated with a bad taste. Examples:
- When the acclaimed scientist was disproven, he had to eat crow in front of his colleagues at the conference.
- Susie thought the quiz was going to be easy, so when she flunked it, she had to eat crow.
- Bill, always the joker, told his friends he could do a back flip, but when he landed on his rear, he ate crow in the most hilarious fashion.
- After all her bravado about being a gourmet cook, Jessica’s dinner was a disaster and she was forced to eat crow.
- In the end, the politician had to eat crow when his promises turned out to be empty.
Shoot the breeze
Meaning “to engage in casual conversation, usually about unimportant subjects”.
Protip: this can be a major life skill, especially if you are planning to advance in the corporate ladder.
Examples of using it:
- As always, Hank and I would meet at the old fishing hole to shoot the breeze about the fish we caught, or often, the ones that got away.
- Isn’t it funny how the more people claim to ‘shoot the breeze’ about diets over brunch, the more pastries and pancakes mysteriously disappear from the table?
- In the space of those few months after my grandad passed, I found solace in visiting his workshop to quietly shoot the breeze with his memory, as if he were still there.
- On long road trips, we’d often shoot the breeze to keep the driver awake, jumping from subjects as diverse as alien encounters to Zorro’s best fight scenes.
- It’s always a thrilling experience to sit with Martha, an octogenarian with an uncanny wit, and shoot the breeze about her lively youthful escapades.
Under the weather
To be under the weather means to be sick. The phrase may have originated from the days when sea travel was the only way to travel internationally, and people got sick from the constant movements.
Examples:
- Clyde, my goofy parrot, looked a bit under the weather today, perhaps because I switched his seeds to a low-fat brand.
- The stadium was full of cheering, but the superstar quarterback appeared under the weather, going through the motions like he was somewhere else altogether.
- After waiting in the chilly bus station, Lucy was definitely feeling a bit under the weather and could not visit the park as we had planned.
- The usually sprightly Mrs. Thompson seemed under the weather during our Sunday meet, her quips and anecdotes conspicuously absent.
- The long-haul flight made me feel under the weather; I guess no amount of deluxe meal choices can beat a good old land experience.
Break a leg
With the meaning of wishing someone “good luck”, this idiom is one of the few where the literal meaning is quite opposite to the de facto meaning. It supposedly began from a superstition of theater actors but then got into widespread use.
Aside: this idiom is the kind of thing that made natural language processing difficult during prehistoric times (meaning 2019), before the shiny transformers and ChatGPT and whatnot came out…
Example usage:
- When Sarah told me she was going to audition for the school play, I enthusiastically told her to break a leg.
- As soon as the comedian took his place on the stage, he flashed a cheeky smile and said, “Guess I’m supposed to break a leg now!”
- Sandy was backstage, her cheeks flushed with anticipation as her fellow performers all wished her to break a leg in a chorus of supportive voices.
- Mom always said, “Break a leg,” before I headed out for a big interview, a phrase she had inherited from her own theater-loving mother.
- At his grandma’s funeral, Patrick remembered how she would always say, “Break a leg,” before any big life event, bringing tears to his eyes.
Things are getting out of hand
Means things are getting out of control.
As of 2023, a lot of people have become worried that AI may get out of hand and kill all humans. Reactions to this range from believers who are very anxious to critics who are very annoyed, so it’s business as usual for the academics, I guess. At any rate we seem to be far away from going full Skynet, so that’s nice.
Anyway, here are some mundane examples of the idiom:
- When the children started painting the walls as well as the paper, it was clear that things were getting out of hand.
- My neighbor, thinking she could control fourteen puppies alone, soon discovered that things were getting out of hand when the energetic pups began wrestling each other.
- Trying to bake pastries, answer the phone, and keep an eye on her toddler; she knew things were getting out of hand.
- Every time I leave my dad alone with the TV remote, I return to find all the streaming services open and realize things have gotten out of hand.
- When my old man decided to take up taxidermy as a hobby, but ended up with more stuffed animals than furniture, I knew things were getting out of hand.
Hold your horses
Also said as “hold the horses”, this means to wait, or slow down, or to not act in a hurry. It seems to have a literal origin, from back in those days when horses and horse driven carriages were the main land transport.
There are quite a few fun horse related idioms like “horsing around”, “straight from the horse’s mouth” and beating a dead horse (which we covered in point 2 above).
Examples:
- While standing on the precipice of Disneyland’s largest roller-coaster, little Sammy tremblingly told his excited father to “hold his horses” until he could gather up his courage.
- As her boyfriend knelt on one knee and pulled out a shiny diamond ring, Jane, blinking with shock, managed to stutter out, “Hold your horses, John, it’s only our third date”.
- Whenever my computer begins to act up and crash repeatedly, I almost wish I could say to it, “Hold your horses, let me save my files first”.
- After three cups of black coffee, an overly caffeinated Lisa loudly exclaimed to her business partners, “Hold your horses, gentlemen, we’ve only just started our meeting and you’re already discussing lunch.”
- Absorbed in his own construction project, Tommy didn’t realise his house of legos was dangerously close to toppling over until his elder brother, witnessing the impending disaster, told him to hold his horses and rethink his architecture.
Kick the bucket
It means “to die”, and the usage of this idiom is typically in informal conversations, light hearted or casual banter. This idiom is also a good example of an euphemism, i.e. a word that serves as a replacement of something morbid, taboo, or impolite.
For instance:
- Despite being on a strict diet, Jim would often joke, “If I have to give up on burgers, I might as well kick the bucket.”
- On a sombre note, when Uncle Joe was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he told his family he was ready to “kick the bucket.”
- During his speech at the retirement party, the CEO humorously said, “I’m not kicking the bucket yet, just passing on the baton.”
- Although the old car was still running, it was so beat up that I knew it was about to kick the bucket any day.
- Watching the final episode of her favorite TV show, Linda sighed, “I can’t believe it’s about to kick the bucket!” When the computer gave off a spark before shutting down, Bob called his IT friend and declared it had kicked the bucket.
Bury the hatchet
This is something two disputing parties might do when they feel that “things are getting out of hand”. It means to forge peace and friendship after a period of quarrels, disagreements or war.
If you knew that hatchet is a sharp instrument, it would be easy to guess that this idiom too had a literal origin:
In some Native American cultures, it was a common practice for two warring tribes to bury a hatchet as a symbol of their truce. The hatchet represented the weapons that had been used in the conflict, and burying it signified that the fighting was over. The idiom “bury the hatchet” is a powerful expression that has been used for centuries to describe the end of a conflict or disagreement. It is a reminder that even the most bitter enemies can find peace if they are willing to forgive and forget.
https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/bury-the-hatchet/
Examples:
- After years of sibling rivalry, Mark and his elder brother decided to bury the hatchet at their family’s Thanksgiving dinner, dramatically drawing a spoon and fork from their back pockets and shaking them like a peace sign.
- When Timmy, the notorious class clown, got in trouble with the headmaster, he offered to bury the hatchet by organizing a surprise party for the headmaster’s birthday, complete with a guest performance from the school band playing the headmaster’s favorite tunes in an amusing attempt at peacemaking.
- During the post-war reconstruction period, the warring nations came together and made efforts to bury the hatchet, engaging in collaborative projects to rebuild the cities that suffered during the destructive conflict.
- The competing smartphone manufacturing companies decided to bury the hatchet and collaborated on a state-of-the-art, universally adopted wireless charging standard.
- After a heated debate on who the best quarterback was, the members of the sports club decided to bury the hatchet and unanimously agreed that they were all passionate fans, each one faithfully supporting their team.
The ball is in someone’s court
This one is seemingly much more common in our contemporary usage. It means the decision-making responsibility lies with the “someone” in the sentence. Interestingly enough, this sentence can be used both as a first-person realization (e.g. in a story) or as a piece of dialogue, as illustrated below:
- After endless arguments and disagreements about where to go for their summer vacation, Mark threw his hands up in exasperation, turned to his wife and said, “Well darling, the ball is in your court now, you decide!”
- Sam took a deep breath, staring at the email marked urgent from his childhood friend, pleading desperately for help in rectifying a terrible misunderstanding they’d had; right then and there, he knew the ball was in his court.
- “Give me a chance,” Tom urged his boss with renewed determination, “I’ve learned from my past mistakes, now the ball is in your court to decide whether you believe in me.”
- Nancy was tired of making all the decisions about their weekend plans usually, so she flipped the situation around, telling her friends, “I’ve got some work to do, folks, the ball is in your court now, you guys figure it out.”
- Looking at the mirror, she adjusted her graduation cap, whispered a quick prayer and mentally prepared herself for the valedictorian speech, firmly admitting, “The ball is in my court, I can either make or break this moment!”
When pigs fly
Meaning an impossible thing, this phrase is an example of a figure of speech called a hyperbole, specifically an adynaton. Apparently we are so fond of making dramatic claims about things that are impossible that we need a whole range of categories to describe these kinds of phrases!
One famous example of an adynaton is this soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where a military guy feels extremely guilty after murdering his king:
“Whence is that knocking?
How is’t with me when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! They pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red…”
Examples of using “when pigs fly”:
- Lisa watched Nathan put off his fitness goals day after day, vowing to start the next day. She finally groaned to her friend, “Nathan will probably get to the gym when pigs fly.”
- Dr. Harper heard about the hypothesis posed by a notoriously eccentric scientist about teleportation and he thought to himself, ‘that’ll be proven right when pigs fly.’
- At the office, Donna looked at the mountain of paperwork on her desk and muttered to herself, “Honestly, I’ll see this desk surface again when pigs fly!”
- The politician, notorious for never keeping his promises, once again pledge to lower taxes, causing murmurs among the crowd of, “Sure, that’ll happen when pigs fly.”
- With her toddlers running around screaming and toys strewn all over, Emily sighed and told her husband, “I guess we’ll see our living room tidy again when pigs fly.”
Close but no cigar
It means coming very close to achieving something, but missing at the last moment. Aaargh! Right??
If you were wondering, “I didn’t ask for a cigar“, then check out the linked article.
Anyway, here are the examples:
- When John realized that he was only short by a few points to win the jackpot, he shook his head and smiled, “Close but no cigar.”
- Sitting alone in the quiet hospital room, Mary looked at the patient chart, her heart sinking as the results showed that her treatments were showing improvement, but they weren’t quite in remission – close but no cigar.
- After a long and gruelling evening, the image of the finished puzzle was finally taking shape, but even after all their effort, there was still a missing piece; close but no cigar.
- As Jack jogged towards the finish line, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead, he could almost taste victory, but was overtaken at the last second – close but no cigar.
- Despite weeks of practicing for the choir auditions, Sarah felt a twinge of disappointment as the list was posted; she had made it to the reserves but didn’t make the primary choir – close but no cigar.
