Essential English Idioms. A PDF with 500 idioms to sound like a native speaker
Essential English Idioms
What Is an Idiom? (with Examples)
An idiom is a commonly used expression whose meaning does not relate to the literal meaning of its words.
Formal Definition
An idiom is a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. over the moon, see the light).
Some Common Examples of Idioms
Here are some common idioms:
- He’s been pushing up the daisies for a year.
- Let’s paint the town red.
- She has a bun in the oven
An Idiom Is a Form of Figurative Language
Idioms are classified as figurative language, which is the use of words in an unusual or imaginative manner.
Figurative language includes the use of metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole, euphemisms, and pun.
There are tens of thousands of idioms used in the English language. As we can probably understand, idioms are difficult for people whose first language is not English. Actually, even native English speakers in the Motherland of England have a hard time with American idioms. Americans know them because they’re common expressions. We’re used to hearing them in our homes, at school, and in our favorite television programs.
Sometimes American idioms make their way around the world, and sometimes an expression doesn’t even make it out of a particular state. Here a few of the most commonly used idioms in the United States and their likely origins. (Note that these origins may be in dispute.)
More Examples of Idioms
Here are some more examples of idioms:
- He was just a flash in the pan.
- He is trying to be a good Samaritan.
- Does he have an axe to grind?
- We should let sleeping dogs lie.
