50 Idioms with Meaning - Most Used Idioms with PDF

50 Idioms with Meaning!

Throughout history, idioms have been used in many different languages to express ideas, feelings, and situations. Idioms are figurative phrases that contain a deeper meaning than their literal definition. They are often used to add a touch of humor, express an emotion, or provide a clever way of expressing a concept. Idioms are commonly used in casual conversations and writing, but they can also be used in a professional setting. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most common idioms and their meanings

Table of Contents

Idioms with meaning

Here is the list of 50 useful idioms with their meaning and examples, memorize these useful idioms list to speak more efficiently.

1. Fed up with	annoyed or bored	She is really fed up with the nursing profession.
2. Feel/take someone’s pulse	to count the heartbeats of someone	The nurse took her pulse.
3. Few and far between	occasional	He calls on me a few and far between.
4. Fight shy of	to avoid doing something or getting involved in something	He fought shy of an open quarrel.
5. Fight to death	a fight that ends when someone is killed or something is destroyed	We will fight to the death to defend our honor.
6. Fight with one’s back to the wall	fight very hard	You will have to fight with your back to the wall to win the race.
7. Find fault with	to criticize somebody or something, often unfairly	She’s always finding fault with the children’s work.
8. First and foremost	primarily, first of all	The first and foremost task of a teacher is to teach.
9. Flesh and blood	used for saying that someone has the same qualities that all people share	They now realize that their hero is, after all, only flesh and blood.
10. Flog/ beat a dead horse	to waste time on something you know is not going to happen	To try to win her love is to flog a dead horse.
11. Fly in the ointment	a problem that spoils something or makes it difficult	The only fly in the ointment is that I cannot use my house for the party
12. Follow suit	to do the same as someone else has just done	Our school offered free admission and other schools followed suit.
13. For a rainy day	to save something, especially money, for a time when you will need it	John Saves money for the rainy days of old age.
14. For good/for good and all	permanently, forever	Joe finally left Turkey for good.
15. For the sake of	in order to help, improve, or please someone or something	She sings for the sake of joy.
16. For want of sth	because of a lack of sth	He could not marry her for want of money.
17. Foul play	behavior that is not fair or honest	He will use any amount of foul play to get his aim.
18. Freudian slip	slip of the tongue, an accidental mistake	She made a Freudian slip and revealed all her plans.
19. From scratch	without any previous preparation or knowledge	She learned English from scratch in six months.
20. From the horse’s mouth	from a reliable source	They have got it straight from the horse’s mouth that the boss is retiring.

A big list of Idioms with Meaning and Examples

21. Get/gain/take/hold have the upper hand	control or an advantage over a person or situation	Pakistan got the upper hand in the second innings against India
22. Get / Set to work	to start doing a piece of work	He set to work on his plan.
23. Get on someone’s nerves	to annoy someone	She keeps on crying it really gets on my nerves.
24. Get rid of	to throw away something	Let us get rid of these useless old things.
25. Get the better of	to defeat someone in a game, argument, etc.	Pakistan finally got the better of India in the match.
26. Get to the bottom of something	to find out the true cause of a bad situation	Try to get to the bottom of the problem to solve it.
27. Get/Have wind of something	to find out about something secret	How did she get wind of our plan?
28. Gird up one’s loins	to prepare for something difficult or dangerous	We should gird up our loins to face the problem.
29. Give a false coloring to	misinterpret	He gave a false coloring to my statement and began to quarrel with me.
30. Give a good account of oneself	succeed	She gave a good account of herself in the examination.
31. Give and take	if there is give and take between people, each person allows the other to get something that they want	We can solve the problem by giving and take.
32. Give full/free rein to	to allow a feeling to be expressed freely	Finally, she gave full rein to her love for John.
33. Give oneself airs, put on airs	be proud	He is too humble to give herself airs.
34. Give rise to	initiate	She never gives rise to her feelings.
35. Give somebody a piece of one’s mind	to rebuke, to scold	The father gave him a piece of his mind for telling such a lie.
36. Give the devil his due	do justice	To give the devil his due, I admit that this robber helps the poor.
37. Give up the ghost	of a person-to die, of a machine to stop working completely	My car gave up the ghost last night.
38. Give vent to	to express very strong anger or sadness	She wept bitterly at the death of her husband giving vent to her sorrow.
39. Give/Create a false impression	deceive, mislead	She always gives a false impression about her money.

Also check: List of idioms for Kids

40. Give/Show someone the cold shoulder	to ignore someone in an obvious manner	This officer is not popular as he gives everyone the cold shoulder.
41. Go /Swim with the stream	to think or do something like others	Easier to go with the stream than to go against the stream.
42. Go back on/upon one’s word/promise	to fail to fulfill one’s promise	You can rely on Gilbert, he would not go back on his word.
43. Go far/a long way	be successful	She is hardworking and will go a long way in life.
44. Go out of one’s way to do something	to make an extra effort to do something though it is not easy to do	Joe really went out of his way to me feel welcome.
45. Go the way of all flesh	to die	Elena went the way of all flesh in 2008.
46. Go through fire and water	to do something very dangerous for someone	Joe is my true friend and will go through fire and water for me.
47. Go to any lengths / great lengths to do something	be ready to use any meeting to achieve something	Rima is ready to go to any lengths to get his aim.
48. Go to law	to go to court in order to settle the problem	The two brothers went to law over the issue of property
49. Go to pieces	to be so upset that you cannot behave in a sensible way	He just went to pieces after his wife’s death.
50. Go to rack and ruin	to become less successful	His business is going to rack and ruin.