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, especially when you compare English idioms to the idioms in your own language.
Learning to use common idioms and expressions will make your English sound more native, so it's a good idea to master some of these expressions. You can start by learning the very common English idioms below, since these are the ones you'll encounter regularly watching American movies or TV, or visiting the United States.
The most common English idioms
These English idioms are extremely common in everyday conversation in the United States. You will hear them in movies and TV shows and can use them to make your English sound more like that of a native speaker.
| Idiom | Meaning | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| A blessing in disguise | a good thing that seemed bad at first | as part of a sentence |
| A dime a dozen | Something common | as part of a sentence |
| Beat around the bush | Avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable | as part of a sentence |
| Better late than never | Better to arrive late than not to come at all | by itself |
| Bite the bullet | To get something over with because it is inevitable | as part of a sentence |
| Break a leg | Good luck | by itself |
| Call it a day | Stop working on something | as part of a sentence |
| Cut somebody some slack | Don't be so critical | as part of a sentence |
| Cutting corners | Doing something poorly in order to save time or money | as part of a sentence |
| Easy does it | Slow down | by itself |
| Get out of hand | Get out of control | as part of a sentence |
| Get something out of your system | Do the thing you've been wanting to do so you can move on | as part of a sentence |
| Get your act together | Work better or leave | by itself |
| Give someone the benefit of the doubt | Trust what someone says | as part of a sentence |
| Go back to the drawing board | Start over | as part of a sentence |
| Hang in there | Don't give up | by itself |
| Hit the sack | Go to sleep | as part of a sentence |
| It's not rocket science | It's not complicated | by itself |
| Let someone off the hook | To not hold someone responsible for something | as part of a sentence |
| Make a long story short | Tell something briefly | as part of a sentence |
| Miss the boat | It's too late | as part of a sentence |
| No pain, no gain | You have to work for what you want | by itself |
| On the ball | Doing a good job | as part of a sentence |
| Pull someone's leg | To joke with someone | as part of a sentence |
| Pull yourself together | Calm down | by itself |
| So far so good | Things are going well so far | by itself |
| Speak of the devil | The person we were just talking about showed up! | by itself |
| That's the last straw | My patience has run out | by itself |
| The best of both worlds | An ideal situation | as part of a sentence |
| Time flies when you're having fun | You don't notice how long something lasts when it's fun | by itself |
| To get bent out of shape | To get upset | as part of a sentence |
| To make matters worse | Make a problem worse | as part of a sentence |
| Under the weather | Sick | as part of a sentence |
| We'll cross that bridge when we come to it | Let's not talk about that problem right now | by itself |
| Wrap your head around something | Understand something complicated | as part of a sentence |
| You can say that again | That's true, I agree | by itself |
| Your guess is as good as mine | I have no idea | by itself |
