Meaning: An issue, person, or problem that someone is trying to avoid Meaning: Accomplishing two different tasks in the same undertaking Meaning: Doing something that is pointless Meaning: Not to count on something happening until after it’s already happened Meaning: Encourage someone to do something, typically something that they shouldn’t be doingĭon’t count your chickens before they hatch Meaning: Being super-nice to someone because you want something from them Meaning: Something or someone that’s difficult to figure out Meaning: Can’t keep up with the competition Meaning: A sedentary person who spends a lot of time seated, often watching TV Meaning: The opposite of a bad egg someone who is honest and trustworthy Meaning: Like a troublemaker but worse someone who seems fundamentally dishonest or otherwise ill-behaved Meaning: The most powerful or important person in a group or organization Meaning: Worrying about the past or things that are already done or settled Meaning: Make money, specifically money to live on Meaning: Something you do or use to survive or thrive in a situation Meaning: A task or job that is easy to complete Meaning: Hearing rumors about someone or something Meaning: Apples are healthy and good for you Meaning: Two people who are always together Meaning: Everyone experiences hard and good timesĬan’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs Meaning: Something that you never forget how to do Meaning: One person usually isn’t the only responsible party Meaning: Things always get worse before they get better Meaning: Someone who is acting crazy or not thinking rationally Meaning: Damaging a relationship beyond repair Meaning: Someone who looks extremely similar to someone else Meaning: The last act that makes an entire situation unbearable Meaning: When the person you have just been talking about arrives Meaning: Something that doesn’t happen very often Meaning: You have to suffer to see results Meaning: Not holding someone responsible for something Meaning: Believing someone’s story without proof even though it may seem unbelievable Meaning: Being treated the (usually negative) way that you have been treating others Meaning: To argue for the other side in an argument in order to encourage further debate Meaning: Taking risky shortcuts to save time and/or money Meaning: Making a choice between two unpleasant choices Meaning: Doing something at a moment’s notice Meaning: Don’t judge someone or something by how it looks Meaning: Committing to do something that you don’t really have the time, resources or ability to do
Meaning: The choice or solution has all of the advantages of two contrasting things at the same time Meaning: To get an unfavorable situation or chore over with now because it will need to get finished eventually Meaning: Avoid sharing your true viewpoint or feelings because it is uncomfortable Meaning: To make a bad situation even worse
Meaning: Something that is very common, not unique Meaning: A good thing that initially seemed bad Here is a list of the most popular and commonly used idioms in American English along with examples and meanings. While idioms are more commonly used in America, idioms are also often used in the English language on TV shows, movies, written literature and other media.įamiliarizing yourself with the meaning behind common idioms is important as idioms don’t often make literal sense. Instead, ‘piece of cake’ is a figurative expression for saying that something is easy to do. To put it simply, idioms mean something different than the words do individually.įor example, the phrase: “writing an idiom is a piece of cake” does not mean that writing an idiom is a literal ‘piece of cake’ that you can eat. Idioms are often put into the class of figurative language, which is when words are used in an imaginative or unusual manner. An idiom is a group of words that are used as a common expression whose meaning is not easily deduced from the literal words within.