100 idioms and their meanings in English with Pictures

Idioms are short expressions that do not mean exactly what the words say. They have special meanings that are often funny, wise, or colorful. Learning idioms can make your English sound more natural and interesting. In this article, you will learn 100 common idioms with simple meanings and pictures to help you understand them quickly. Pictures make it easier to remember idioms because they show the idea in a fun way. Whether you are a student, a traveler, or just someone who loves English, these idioms will help you speak with more confidence and style.

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What are idioms?

Idioms are special phrases that have a meaning different from the words they use. You cannot understand them just by looking at the words. For example, if someone says “it’s raining cats and dogs,” they do not mean animals are falling from the sky; they mean it is raining very heavily. Idioms make language more colorful and interesting. People use them in everyday conversations to express ideas in a fun or clever way.

Common Idioms and Their Meanings for Everyday English

Idioms	Meaning
A blessing in disguise	A good thing that seemed bad at first
Beat around the bush	Avoid saying something directly
Call it a day	Stop working for now
Down to earth	Very practical and realistic
Every cloud has a silver lining	Bad times will pass
Face the music	Accept the consequences
Give someone a hand	Help someone
Hit the nail on the head	Do something exactly right
In hot water	In trouble
Jump the gun	Start too early
Keep an eye on	Watch carefully
Let the cat out of the bag	Reveal a secret
Make a long story short	Tell something briefly
No pain, no gain	Hard work brings success
Out of the blue	Suddenly and unexpectedly
Pull someone’s leg	Joke with someone
Quit cold turkey	Stop something suddenly
Rock the boat	Cause trouble in a situation
Speak of the devil	The person you talked about appears
Under the weather	Feeling sick

Common Idioms and Their Meanings for Everyday English

Popular Idioms and Their Meanings You Should Know

Idioms	Meaning
A dime a dozen	Very common
Break the ice	Start a conversation
Cut to the chase	Get to the point
Don’t cry over spilled milk	Don’t worry about things that already happened
Easy does it	Be gentle or slow
Fish out of water	Feel uncomfortable in a situation
Go the extra mile	Do more than expected
Hold your horses	Wait and be patient
In the same boat	In the same situation
Jump on the bandwagon	Join a popular trend
Kill two birds with one stone	Do two things at once
Let sleeping dogs lie	Don’t talk about old problems
Make ends meet	Manage money for basic needs
Not playing with a full deck	Acting strangely or foolishly
On thin ice	In a risky situation
Put all your eggs in one basket	Rely on one plan only
Rain cats and dogs	Rain very heavily
See eye to eye	Agree completely
The ball is in your court	It’s your decision now
Up in the air	Not yet decided

Famous Idioms and Their Meanings for Speaking English

Idioms	Meaning
A taste of your own medicine	Same bad treatment you gave
Bite off more than you can chew	Take on too much work
Curiosity killed the cat	Asking too many questions can cause trouble
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket	Don’t depend only on one thing
Every dog has its day	Everyone gets a chance eventually
Fly off the handle	Become very angry suddenly
Get cold feet	Feel nervous before an event
Hit the sack	Go to sleep
In a pickle	In a difficult situation
Just what the doctor ordered	Exactly what you needed
Keep your fingers crossed	Hope for good luck
Let bygones be bygones	Forget past arguments
Money doesn’t grow on trees	Money is not easy to get
Not the end of the world	Not as bad as it seems
On cloud nine	Very happy
Put your money where your mouth is	Back up your words with action
Run out of steam	Lose energy or interest
Sink or swim	Survive by your own efforts
Take a rain check	Postpone something
Your guess is as good as mine	I don’t know either

Popular Idioms and Their Meanings You Should Know

Simple Idioms and Their Meanings for Daily Conversations

Idioms	Meaning
Add insult to injury	Make a bad situation worse
Barking up the wrong tree	Accusing the wrong person
Cry wolf	Raise a false alarm
Don’t judge a book by its cover	Don’t judge by appearance
Easier said than done	Harder to do than to say
From the horse’s mouth	Directly from the source
Go down in flames	Fail badly
Hold the fort	Take care of something temporarily
In the blink of an eye	Very quickly
Just in the nick of time	At the last possible moment
Keep something at bay	Prevent something
Leave no stone unturned	Try everything possible
Miss the boat	Miss an opportunity
Not my cup of tea	Not something I like
Out on a limb	In a risky position
Put your best foot forward	Try your best
Read between the lines	Find hidden meaning
Shoot for the stars	Aim very high
Take it with a grain of salt	Don’t fully believe it
You can’t judge a book by its cover	Appearances are often misleading

Simple Idioms and Their Meanings for Daily Conversations

Top Everyday Idioms and Their Meanings in English

Idioms	Meaning
A stitch in time saves nine	Fix problems early
Bite the bullet	Accept something difficult
Come rain or shine	No matter what happens
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch	Don’t be sure of something before it happens
Every nook and cranny	Every small place
Fit as a fiddle	Very healthy
Get a taste of your own medicine	Suffer from your own bad behavior
Hit the road	Start a journey
In seventh heaven	Extremely happy
Jack of all trades	A person who can do many things
Keep the ball rolling	Keep things going
Laugh your head off	Laugh a lot
Make a mountain out of a molehill	Exaggerate a small problem
Neck and neck	Very close competition
Off the record	Not to be made public
Play it by ear	Handle it without planning
Quick on the uptake	Understand things fast
Rolling in dough	Very rich
Stick your neck out	Take a risk
Turn over a new leaf	Start fresh