The most common English idioms

ENGLISH idioms, proverbs, and expressions are an important part of everyday English. They come up all the time in both written and spoken English. Because idioms don’t always make sense literally, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the meaning and usage of each idiom. That may seem like a lot of work, but learning idioms is fun.

A blessing in disguise − A good thing that seemed bad at first.

A dime a dozen − Something common.

Beat around the bush − Avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable.

Better late than never − Better to arrive late than not to come at all.

Bite the bullet − To get something over with because it is inevitable. Break a leg − Good luck. Call it a day − Stop working on something.

Cut somebody some slack − Don’t be so critical.

Cutting corners - Doing something poorly in order to save time or money. Easy does it - Slow down . Get out of hand - Get out of control. Get something out of your system - Do the thing you’ve been wanting to do so you can move on.

Get your act together - Work better or leave.

Give someone the benefit of the doubt - Trust what someone says.

Go back to the drawing board Start over.

Hang in there - Don’t give up. Hit the sack - Go to sleep.

It’s not rocket science - It’s not complicated.

Let someone off the hook - To not hold someone responsible for something.

Make a long story short - Tell something briefly.

Miss the boat - It’s too late. No pain, no gain - You have to work for what you want.

On the ball - Doing a good job. Pull someone’s leg - To joke with someone.

Pull yourself together - Calm down. So far so good - Things are going well so far.

Speak of the devil - The person we were just talking about showed up!

That’s the last straw - My patience has run out.

The best of both worlds - An ideal situation.

Time flies when you’re having fun - You don’t notice how long something lasts when it’s fun.

To get bent out of shape - To get upset.

To make matters worse - Make a problem worse.

Under the weather - Sick.

We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it - Let’s not talk about that problem right now.

Wrap your head around something - Understand something complicated.

You can say that again - That’s true, I agree. Your guess is as good as mine - I have no idea. — www.ef.com