Practice These Advanced Idioms and Expressions With Examples
Meaning of the English Idioms from the Quiz Above
Explore the world of language with our collection of common, popular, famous, and essential everyday English idioms!
- Come Out in the Wash meaning: A situation will ultimately be resolved or become clear.
- Come out in the wash in sentence: “Don’t worry about those minor issues; they’ll all come out in the wash.”
- Get Your Priorities Right meaning: To give importance to the most important tasks or aspects in life.
- Get your priorities right in sentence: “She decided to get her priorities right and spend more time with her family.”
- Stand the Test of Time meaning: To last for a long time and remain valuable or popular.
- Stand the test of time in sentence: “This classic novel has stood the test of time, remaining popular for over a century.”
- Feast Your Eyes meaning: To look at something with great enjoyment or admiration.
- Feast your eyes in sentence: “Feast your eyes on this beautiful sunset!”
- After All meaning: Used to add information that contrasts with what has been said previously.
- After all in sentence: “I thought I would fail, but I passed the exam after all.”
- Turn a Blind Eye meaning: To ignore something that one knows is wrong.
- Turn a blind eye in sentence: “The manager turned a blind eye to the staff’s misconduct.”
- Creature of Habit meaning: A person who likes to do the same things at the same time in the same way.
- Creature of habit in sentence: “He’s a creature of habit, eating the same breakfast every day.”
- Copper-Bottomed meaning: Something that is completely reliable or trustworthy.
- Copper-bottomed in sentence: “This investment is copper-bottomed; you’re guaranteed to get a good return.”
- Can’t Hold a Candle meaning: To be far less competent or have far less skills than someone else.
- Can’t hold a candle in sentence: “The new singer is talented, but she can’t hold a candle to the original artist.”
- Make Yourself Scarce meaning: To go away or leave in order to avoid a difficult situation.
- Make yourself scarce in sentence: “When he saw his ex-girlfriend at the party, he made himself scarce.”
- Make No Bones About Something meaning: To say something in a way that leaves no doubt, or to have no objection to it.
- Make no bones about something in sentence: “She made no bones about her dislike for the new policy.”
- Tear Your Hair Out meaning: To be extremely worried, frustrated, or angry about something.
- Tear your hair out in sentence: “I was tearing my hair out trying to meet the impossible deadline.”
- Catch-22 meaning: A paradoxical situation from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
- Catch-22 in sentence: “Needing experience to get a job, but needing a job to get experience, is a real catch-22.”
- Prick Up Your Ears meaning: To listen carefully or attentively.
- Prick up your ears in sentence: “He pricked up his ears when he heard his name mentioned.”
- Eyes Like a Hawk meaning: To be able to see or notice things that are difficult to detect.
- Eyes like a hawk in sentence: “She missed nothing in her classroom, always having eyes like a hawk.”
- Get Off the Hook meaning: To escape from a difficult situation or to avoid a punishment.
- Get off the hook in sentence: “He was relieved to get off the hook when someone else admitted to making the error.”
- Keep Your Shirt On! meaning: Remain calm, don’t be too hasty or upset.
- Keep your shirt on! in sentence: “Keep your shirt on! We’ll get there in time for the movie.”
- Rob the Cradle meaning: To date or marry someone much younger than oneself.
- Rob the cradle in sentence: “People were shocked when the celebrity decided to rob the cradle and date someone half his age.”
- Old Head on Young Shoulders meaning: A young person who thinks and acts in a more sensible way than is usual for someone of their age.
- Old head on young shoulders in sentence: “She’s only twenty but has an old head on young shoulders, making wise decisions beyond her years.”
- Paid Peanuts meaning: To receive very little money for work.
- Paid peanuts in sentence: “The staff are paid peanuts, which is why there’s such a high turnover.”
- Like a Moth to a Flame meaning: To be irresistibly and dangerously attracted to something or someone.
- Like a moth to a flame in sentence: “He was drawn like a moth to a flame to the dangerous world of street racing.”
- Take the Sting Out of Something meaning: To make something bad, painful, or unpleasant less severe.
- Take the sting out of something in sentence: “The apology helped to take the sting out of the criticism he faced.”
- (As) Brown as a Berry meaning: Very suntanned.
- As brown as a berry in sentence: “After a week at the beach, she was as brown as a berry.”
- (Take a) Turn for the Worse meaning: To suddenly become worse in quality or state.
- Take a turn for the worse in sentence: “His health took a turn for the worse overnight.”
- High and Mighty meaning: Behaving as if you think you are more important than other people.
- High and mighty in sentence: “She’s been acting all high and mighty since she got the promotion.”
Popular English Idioms Used Everyday
Understanding common idioms in English is not only about grasping their meanings but also about appreciating the cultural context they embody. English grammar idioms and phrases exercises, especially those focusing on phrasal verbs, are excellent tools for learners to dive into the nuances of the language.
For instance, business idioms, a subset of English idioms, are crucial for professional communication, and exercises on these can significantly enhance one’s corporate vocabulary. ESL learners, in particular, benefit from idioms exercises, as these phrases often do not translate directly into other languages. Engaging tools like an idiomatic expression quiz with an answer key or ESL idioms worksheets can make learning both fun and effective.
Understanding the idiom meaning is key to mastering idioms. Famous idioms, for example, have often seeped into everyday language and are frequently used in both casual and formal settings.
Exercises for idioms, including those on idioms and phrases, help in familiarizing with these expressions. The challenge increases with idiomatic expressions exercises multiple choice, where learners must choose the correct meaning or application of an idiom in context. This is especially useful in contexts like the idioms and phrases quiz for bank exams, where precision in language use is tested.
