30+ Most Useful English Idioms and Phrases with Meaning and Examples

🔥 Latest & Most Important Idioms asked in SSC CGL, CHSL, Banking, UPSC, IELTS, TOEFL & Everyday Conversation

No.	Idiom / Phrase	Meaning	Example Sentence
1	Meet someone halfway	To compromise with someone	If you reduce the price a little, I’ll meet you halfway and close the deal today.
2	On and off	Occasionally, from time to time	It has been raining on and off since morning.
3	Turn a deaf ear	Deliberately ignore	Smart people turn a deaf ear to negative comments online.
4	Take someone to task	To criticize or reprimand strongly	The boss took the entire team to task for missing the project deadline.
5	By hook or by crook	By any means, fair or foul	He is determined to top the exam by hook or by crook.
6	At one with someone	In full agreement	On climate change, she is completely at one with her mentor.
7	Throw cold water on	To discourage an idea	Don’t throw cold water on my startup plan; just give honest feedback.
8	Spend money like water	Spend extravagantly	After getting the bonus, he spent money like water on gadgets.
9	Live by one’s wits	Survive by being clever/cunning	Without a steady job, he lives by his wits doing online gigs.
10	Spread like wildfire	Spread very rapidly	The news of the merger spread like wildfire across social media.
11	In high spirits	Very happy and cheerful	She was in high spirits after clearing the interview.
12	Keep in touch with	Maintain regular contact	Always keep in touch with your old classmates.
13	Smell a rat	Suspect something is wrong	When the offer looked too good, I smelled a rat.
14	Try one’s hand at	Attempt something for the first time	During quarantine, I tried my hand at cooking gourmet dishes.
15	Make the most of	Use to the fullest advantage	Make the most of your college life—it flies by quickly!
16	Make something of yourself	Become successful	From a small town, she made something of herself in the corporate world.
17	Be all Greek to someone	Completely incomprehensible	Quantum physics is all Greek to me!
18	Take a leaf out of someone’s book	Imitate a successful person	Take a leaf out of Virat Kohli’s book if you want fitness discipline.
19	Under someone’s nose	Right in front, unnoticed	The keys were lying under my nose the whole time!
20	A far cry from	Very different from	Remote work is a far cry from the old 9-to-5 office routine.
21	Bone of contention	Main reason for dispute	Property division is the bone of contention between the siblings.
22	A hard nut to crack	Very difficult problem/person	Cracking the IIT-JEE is a hard nut to crack.
23	At daggers drawn	In bitter enmity	The two rival gangs are at daggers drawn again.
24	Yeoman’s service	Outstanding or selfless service	Doctors did yeoman’s service during the pandemic.
25	Out of the way	Unusual	Everything went smoothly; nothing out of the way happened.
26	Put hand in pocket	Spend or donate money	It’s time the rich put their hands in their pockets for charity.
27	Man of straw	Person of no importance	Banks won’t lend crores to a man of straw.
28	Not see eye to eye	Disagree completely	We don’t see eye to eye on the new education policy.
29	Be all eyes	Watching very attentively	The kids were all eyes when the clown appeared.
30	Be all ears	Listening eagerly	Tell me your travel stories—I’m all ears!
...	...	...	...
31	Keep a cool head	Stay calm under pressure	In a stock market crash, keep a cool head and don’t panic-sell.
32	Once in a blue moon	Very rarely	My brother calls me once in a blue moon.
33	On cloud nine	Extremely happy	She was on cloud nine after getting selected for Harvard.
34	A dime a dozen	Very common and cheap	Motivational speakers on YouTube are a dime a dozen these days.