Idioms

Selected Idioms with explanations for all competitive examinations.

Practice questions

“A dime a dozen” means:
- Extremely valuable
- Very common and inexpensive
- Difficult to find
- Completely useless
“All Greek to me” means:
- Very interesting
- Completely incomprehensible
- Easy to memorise
- Written in another language only
“A slap on the wrist” means:
- A severe punishment
- A mild punishment
- A public reward
- A formal invitation
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” means:
- Risk is always rewarding
- A certain benefit is better than an uncertain one
- Birds should be protected
- More choices always produce better results
“Add insult to injury” means:
- Make a bad situation even worse
- Apologise sincerely
- Repair damaged property
- Avoid a disagreement
“At sixes and sevens” means:
- In perfect order
- In a state of confusion
- In a happy mood
- In agreement with everyone
“A red-letter day” means:
- An ordinary working day
- A memorable or important day
- A day of financial loss
- A day spent travelling
“A white elephant” means:
- A rare and useful gift
- A costly possession that is difficult to maintain
- A profitable investment
- A symbol of good luck only
“Bring something to light” means:
- Make something brighter
- Reveal previously hidden information
- Make a situation more confusing
- Keep a matter secret
“Come rain or shine” means:
- Only in favourable weather
- Whatever happens
- During the rainy season
- Whenever convenient
“Cross that bridge when you come to it” means:
- Solve every possible problem in advance
- Deal with a problem when it actually arises
- Avoid all future responsibilities
- Ask others to make every decision
“Draw the line” means:
- Begin a new drawing
- Set a limit on acceptable behaviour
- Connect two separate ideas
- Avoid making any rules
“Face the music” means:
- Attend a musical performance
- Accept the consequences of one's actions
- Avoid criticism
- Celebrate an achievement
“Fight tooth and nail” means:
- Fight without a clear purpose
- Make a determined effort
- Refuse to participate
- Reach an agreement peacefully
“Give someone the cold shoulder” means:
- Offer someone warm clothing
- Deliberately ignore someone
- Welcome someone enthusiastically
- Ask someone for advice
“Go down in flames” means:
- Achieve great success
- Fail dramatically
- Remain unnoticed
- Improve gradually
“Have bigger fish to fry” means:
- Prefer expensive food
- Have more important matters to deal with
- Avoid difficult responsibilities
- Spend too much time cooking
“Hit below the belt” means:
- Use an unfair or hurtful tactic
- Win through honest effort
- Avoid personal criticism
- Follow established rules
“In black and white” means:
- In a confusing manner
- In written or clearly documented form
- In an old-fashioned style
- In a secret conversation
“Keep your fingers crossed” means:
- Prepare for an argument
- Hope for a favourable outcome
- Hide your intentions
- Refuse to take responsibility
“Make a mountain out of a molehill” means:
- Solve a major problem
- Exaggerate a small problem
- Ignore an emergency
- Turn a plan into reality
“Not my cup of tea” means:
- Not something I particularly like
- Something I urgently need
- A task I can easily complete
- A drink I have never tasted
“On the spur of the moment” means:
- After weeks of planning
- Without prior planning
- At a fixed appointment
- After careful investigation
“Play it by ear” means:
- Follow written instructions exactly
- Decide what to do as a situation develops
- Refuse to change a plan
- Repeat someone else's decision
“Put your foot down” means:
- Begin walking faster
- Assert authority or refuse to accept something
- Apologise for a mistake
- Withdraw from a competition
“Rain cats and dogs” means:
- Rain very lightly
- Rain very heavily
- Stop raining suddenly
- Produce unusual weather
“Smell a rat” means:
- Notice an unpleasant smell
- Suspect that something is wrong
- Discover a valuable object
- Become afraid of animals
“Take the bull by the horns” means:
- Avoid a dangerous task
- Deal with a difficult situation directly
- Wait for someone else to act
- Make a problem more complicated
“The tip of the iceberg” means:
- The most important part of a solution
- A small visible part of a much larger problem
- The conclusion of an investigation
- A problem that has disappeared
“Throw caution to the wind” means:
- Act without considering the risks
- Examine every danger carefully
- Refuse to make a decision
- Follow every safety instruction
“Wear your heart on your sleeve” means:
- Hide your emotions from others
- Show your feelings openly
- Make decisions without emotion
- Pretend to be happy
“Wrap your head around something” means:
- Forget an important fact
- Understand something difficult
- Refuse to learn a skill
- Explain something dishonestly
“Your hands are tied” means:
- You are physically injured
- You are unable to act because of restrictions
- You have many opportunities
- You are responsible for everything
“A far cry from” means:
- Very similar to
- Very different from
- A long-distance telephone call
- A direct copy of
“A penny for your thoughts” means:
- Give me some money
- Tell me what you are thinking
- Explain how you earned your money
- Stop thinking about the past
“A taste of your own medicine” means:
- A medical treatment that works well
- The same unpleasant treatment you have given others
- A new way to solve a problem
- A reward for good behaviour
“An open book” means:
- A difficult academic text
- A person who is easy to understand
- A secret document
- A book without a cover
“At your fingertips” means:
- Difficult to obtain
- Readily available
- Completely forgotten
- Kept under strict security
“Bend over backwards” means:
- Avoid making an effort
- Make an exceptional effort to help
- Refuse to compromise
- Change your mind frequently
“Blow your own trumpet” means:
- Play music in public
- Praise your own achievements
- Criticise a colleague
- Announce bad news
“Come to grips with” means:
- Physically fight someone
- Begin to understand or deal with a difficult issue
- Avoid a complicated decision
- Forget a painful experience
“Keep something at bay” means:
- Allow something to grow
- Prevent something unwanted from approaching or worsening
- Hide something in a safe place
- Encourage someone to participate
“Leave someone in the lurch” means:
- Help someone in an emergency
- Abandon someone when they need help
- Give someone an unexpected gift
- Invite someone to a meeting
“Make hay while the sun shines” means:
- Work only in good weather
- Take advantage of a favourable opportunity
- Delay work until conditions change
- Spend money without planning
“A feather in one’s cap” means:
- A sign of embarrassment
- An achievement to be proud of
- A reason to feel worried
- An unnecessary expense
“A fish out of water” means:
- Someone who feels uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings
- Someone who is highly experienced
- Someone who enjoys every challenge
- Someone who avoids travelling
“A wild goose chase” means:
- A profitable business venture
- A search that is unlikely to succeed
- A carefully organised investigation
- A journey with a clear destination
“All ears” means:
- Completely confused
- Listening with great attention
- Unwilling to listen
- Speaking very loudly
“At loggerheads” means:
- In complete agreement
- In strong disagreement
- Working independently
- Sharing a common goal
“By word of mouth” means:
- Through spoken communication between people
- Through an official government notice
- Through a printed textbook
- Through a private written contract