English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions
Lists of well-known English idioms with their meaning.
What are idioms?
Idioms are words, phrases or expressions commonly used in everyday conversation by
native speakers of English.
They are used when speaking informally. They are not used in formal exchanges.
Idioms are often metaphorical and make the language more colourful.
They serve as images to communicate something more vividly and often more briefly.
Example: Let the cat out of the bag
= reveal a secret.
The idioms below are categorised by theme or categories.
Alphabetical lists will be found on the
next page.
Lists of idioms categorised by theme :
- actions and behaviour
- age
- agreements and arrangements
- ambition and determination
- anger - annoyance - irritation
- animals - fish - birds - insects
- anxiety - fear
- arguments - disagreements- disputes
- authority - power
- beauty - appearance
- body
- books
- business - work
- choices - options - alternatives
- clothes
- colours
- communication - contact - information
- comparison - similarity
- consequences - effects
- countries - cities - nationalities
- descriptions of people (personality, character and appearance)
- descriptions of places, things and events
- doubt and uncertainty
- efficiency - competence
- employment - jobs
- enthusiasm - eagerness - motivation
- feelings - emotions - reactions
- food and drink
- frankness - openness - sincerity
- friends and friendship
- fun and enjoyment
- habits
- happiness - sadness
- health - fitness
- hesitation - indecision - doubt
- honesty - dishonesty
- house,furniture and household fittings
- intelligence - understanding - comprehension
- knowledge and wisdom
- law and order
- leadership
- lifestyle - way of life
- love and romance
- luck and opportunity
- madness- insanity
- memory - remembering
- mind expressions
- mistakes - errors
- money - finance - wealth
- music
- negotiations
- numbers - quantities - amounts
- plants - flowers - trees
- politeness - manners
- problems - difficulties
- relationships (social, working and personal relationships)
- safety - danger
- secrets - discretion
- shopping
- sleep - tiredness
- speed - rapidity
- sports - games - athletics
- success - failure
- surprise - astonishment - disbelief
- thoughts - ideas - imagination
- time
- travel - transport
- violence- aggressiveness
- weather
→ next page: Alphabetical Lists