Most Common idioms used in IELTS Exam Part 2
dressed to kill – wear one’s finest clothing. She was dressed to kill when I saw her at the convention last year.
dribs and drabs – little by little, small quantities. She told us the story in dribs and drabs.
drive at – try to say, insinuate. What were you driving at when you said that insulting comment?
drive someone up a wall – make someone crazy. My son is driving me up a wall!
drop in the bucket – a small amount. The cost of fixing the sink is a drop in the bucket compared to replacing the whole sink.
drop out – one who doesn’t complete a study course. My cousin dropped out of college.
drown one’s sorrows – drink liquor to forget one’s problems. I was so upset last night, that I drowned my sorrows at the bar.
dump – get rid of, reject – I can’t believe you dumped your girlfriend.
dwell on – talk and think about something all the time. I know it is a big decision, but you shouldn’t dwell on it all day.
eager beaver – ambitious, hard working. Charlie gets to work at 7:00 am everyday. He is an eager beaver.
earful – interesting gossip, information. My friend found out about the local politician. I got an earful.
egg someone on – push, urge. My wife didn’t want to take the job, but I egged her on.
elbow grease – strength for cleaning. I needed to use a lot of elbow grease to get the dirt off the floor.
elbow room – enough space to be comfortable. It was so tight in that restaurant. There wasn’t any elbow room.
end up – finish. I heard that you got lost on your way home last night. Where did you end up?
every Tom, Dick and Harry – the average person, nobody special. It seemed like every Tom, Dick and Harry came out to purchase tickets for the movie.
face the music – meet one’s punishment, accept the consequences. When he got caught stealing the money from the bank, he realized that soon he would have to face the music.
face up to – accept something unpleasant or difficult. You need to face up to the fact that you did not win the election.
fair and square – honest, honestly. I won the contest fair and square.
fall apart – stop working properly, deteriorate. His old car finally fell apart.
fall behind – not be able to keep up, fail to maintain a schedule or rate of speed. When she couldn’t go to school because of her illness, she significantly fell behind in her work.
fall for – begin to love, have strong emotions for. I fell for her as soon as I met her.
fall off – decrease. Sales have been falling off since the economy has slowed down.
fall through – fail, collapse – The big sale I made at work yesterday fell through this morning.
false alarm – warning or report that is untrue. She thought that she was pregnant, but it was a false alarm.
far-fetched – unlikely, exaggerated. The possibility of her receiving a full scholarship is very far-fetched.
fast buck – money obtained easily and often unethically. I know a way we can make a fast buck.
feather in one’s cap – proud achievement. His speech went well at the corporate meeting. It was a feather in his cap.
fed up with – had enough, disgusted with. She was fed up with his attitude at the office.
feel in one’s bones – know by intuition, feel certain without evidence. I believe he is going to get the promotion. I can just feel it in my bones.
feel like a million bucks – feel wonderful. I felt like a million bucks when I wore my new suit to the wedding.
feel like two cents – feel ashamed or embarrassed. I felt like two cents when I dropped the birthday cake on the floor.
feel sorry for – pity. She felt sorry for him when she heard the news of his accident.
fender bender – minor accident. I had a fender bender on my way to work this morning.
fiddle around – work without a definite plan and knowledge. The clock was broken, so he fiddled around with it until he got it to work.
figure out – try to understand, solve. She couldn’t figure out one of her math problems.
fill someone in – tell a person the details. We had the meeting yesterday when you were out. Let me fill you in on what you missed.
find fault – complain, criticize – She always seems to find fault with any of my friends.
fish out of water – someone who does not fit in. She felt like a fish out of water when she went to the party in her formal dress while everyone else was wearing jeans.
fishy – suspicious, false sounding. Your company is giving you a month off from work? That sounds a bit fishy.
fix someone up – arrange a date for someone. I fixed her up with my best friend.
flip one’s lid – get angry, go crazy, become very excited. He flipped his lid when he found out his son stole some candy from the store.
floor someone – surprise, confuse. I was floored when I found out they had made me a surprise birthday party.
flop – failure – His business ended up being a flop.
fly off the handle – get angry. Her mother flew off the handle when she found out that her daughter dropped out of college.
fly the coop – leave suddenly, run away. As soon as he turned eighteen years old, he flew the coop.
fly-by-night – unreliable, untrustworthy. I don’t want to buy my computer from that store. It’s a fly-by-night company; they may not be in business next year.
foot in the door – opening , hopeful beginning of success. It is not my idea of a perfect job, but at least I have my foot in the door with a great company.
foot the bill – pay. Who is going to foot the bill for the office renovations?
for a song – at a low price, cheap. He got his new car for a song.
for the birds – terrible, awful. I work long hours and hardly get paid. This job is for the birds.
for the time being – at the present time. For the time being, let’s not make any changes to the report.
free-for-all – mayhem, disorder. When the teacher left for a meeting , it was a free-for-all in the classroom.
freeload – get things that others pay for. When my friend moved into my apartment, stayed for a year and never contributed any money, I knew he was a freeloader.
from the bottom of one’s heart – with great feeling , sincerely. My sister thanked me from the bottom of her heart for saving her dog’s life.
from the left field – unexpectedly, with an odd or unclear connection to the subject. We were in the middle of a business meeting when, out from left field, he asked about the weather.
from scratch – from the very beginning , starting with raw materials. This chocolate was not made from a cake mix, she made it from scratch.
fume – be angry. When I heard that she was talking about me to other people, I was just fuming.
gall – shameless, insolent attitude. She spent all of her money on clothes and music, and then she asked to borrow money for groceries. She has gall.
game – willing , ready. Okay, you want to make plans to go to China? Okay, I’m game.
get a grip on oneself – take control of one’s feelings . When he lost the soccer game, he couldn’t stop crying. I told him to get a grip on himself.
get a kick out of – enjoy. I get a kick out of it every time I see her dance.
get a load of – have a good look at. Get a load of those fancy cars driving down the street.
get ahead – become successful. She is saving all her money, so that one day she can get ahead.
get along – manage. He realized that he was able to get along quite well without his partner.
get around to – finally find time to do something – I have put it off for months, but I finally got around to cleaning the windows.
get at – mean, hint. You tell me that I am slow at work. What are trying to get at.
get away with murder – not be punished for wrongdoing. – He’s the boss’s son and comes in late everyday, but we can’t complain. He’s getting away with murder.
get cold feet – be afraid at the last minute, lose confidence. I was prepared to make a speech, but I got cold feet when I saw how many people were going to hear it.
get down to brass tacks – begin important work or business. Get off the phone so that we can discuss business. Let’s get down to brass tacks.
get even – get revenge, settle the score. I was so upset when she insulted me last week. I want to get even with her.
get the runaround – be sent from place to place without getting the information needed. It took me four hours to renew my driver’s license. I was sent to almost every department and seemed to get the runaround.
get in on the ground floor – start from the beginning so you’ll have full advantage of any favorable outcome. He is a very wealthy man. He was one Microsoft’s first employees and got in on the ground floor.
get in the swing of things – adapt or adjust to a new environment. After working two weeks in the new department, I finally got into the swing of things.
get off the ground – make a successful beginning , go ahead. He will finally take his project and get it off the ground in the coming year.
get off one’s back – leave someone alone, don’t bother. She reminded me that I had to prepare for my trip out of town. I wish she would get off my back.
get off on the wrong foot – make a bad start. Having a fight with a co-worker on my first day of work was not a good idea. I got off on the wrong foot.
get off the ground – make progress, make a good start. I finally got my business off the ground.
get one’s goat – make someone disgusted, annoyed, angry. Sitting in traffic for 5 hours really got my goat.
get out from under – end a worrisome situation. I am glad that I am working again and making money. I finally got out from under my bills.
get out of – withdraw. I would really like to get out of going to the holiday party.
get out of hand – lose control. The party really got out of hand when they started drinking alcohol.
get something off one’s chest – unburden yourself, tell what’s bothering you. I feel better ever since I told him my problem and got it off my chest.
get the ax – be fired. My company finally realized that he wasn’t doing his job. They gave him the ax.
get the show on the road – start a project or work. We have been discussing unimportant things all morning. Let’s get the show on the road and start getting down to business.
get to the bottom of – find out the real cause. After talking to my friend for an hour, I finally got to the bottom of why he was angry at me.
get under someone’s skin – annoy, bother, upset. He has a difficult and annoying personality and always got under my skin.
get up and go – ambition, energ y, enthusiasm – She always seems so excited and motivated at work. She’s got a lot of get up and go.
get up on the wrong side of the bed – be in a bad mood. My son has been cranky all day. I think he got up on the wrong side of the bed.
get what is coming to one – what one deserves, good or bad. After stealing so much money from the charity, I really hope he gets what’s coming to him.
get wind of – find out, hear gossip or rumors about. I got wind of the fact that they will be closing down our department.
give a hoot – care. I don’t give a hoot who wins the election.
give the cold shoulder – be unfriendly to, ignore. I was so mad at my cousin, that I gave her the cold shoulder at the wedding reception.
give in – do as others want, surrender. I wanted to paint the room blue, my wife wanted yellow. I had to give in.
give it one’s best shot – try very hard. I gave it my best shot, but I still didn’t make the team.
give someone a break – give someone an opportunity or chance. The actor struggled for many years. Finally, someone gave him a break and put him in a movie.
give someone a hand – help. I couldn’t work my regular hours. A co-worker gave me a hand and switched schedules with me.
give someone a piece of one’s mind – say what you really think when angry. I was so mad that he was late for the wedding , I gave him a piece of my mind.
give someone his walking papers – dismiss, fire, send away. She got her walking papers on Friday and won’t be coming back to work.
give someone the green light – give permission to go ahead with a project. We were finally given the green light to begin setting up the new project.
go cold turkey – stop abruptly. My doctor really wants me to quit smoking. I decided to stop and go cold turkey.
go Dutch – each person pay for himself. If we have dinner together, I insist that we go Dutch.
go from bad to worse – deteriorate. Sales have been very slow this season, but this was the worst week of all. It seems like it’s going from bad to worse.
go out of one’s way – make a special effort, do more than necessary. I went out of my way to make it easier for you.
go over – examine. Before I submit the report, I want to go over it one more time for mistakes.
go over big – be very successful. Do you think my idea to have a birthday party for our teacher will go over big?
go overboard – overact, be reckless. I’ve never seen so many flowers at a wedding. Do you think maybe you’ve gone overboard?
go steady – go out with only one person romantically. Who did you go steady with in high school?
go to bat for – assist, help. I have overheard that she may be fired from her job. I think she is a hard worker and I want her to stay. I’m going to bat for her.
go to pot – deteriorate, become undisciplined, unkempt. He has quit his job, gained weight, and I think may be abusing drugs. It looks like he’s really gone to pot.
go under the knife – have surgery. I’ll be going under the knife next week for some minor surgery.
go up in smoke – disappear, fail to materialize. She was going to go on a vacation, but her mother got sick. Her plans have gone up in smoke.
go-getter – ambitious person. She is the most successful salesperson I’ve ever seen. She’s a real go-getter.
goldmine – worth a lot of money, successful. His business is a major success and will only get bigger every year. He is sitting on a goldmine.
goner – someone in a lot of trouble. His boss found out he has been stealing from the cash register. He’s a goner.
good sport – a person who loses well. Even though I beat you in the game, you still congratulated me. You are a good sport.
goof off – not want to work, be lazy. I am tired of working so hard. I just want to stay home and goof off.
grab 40 winks – I felt so sleepy after my lunch, I decided to grab 40 winks.
grand – $1000. It cost me a grand to stay in the luxury hotel.
greasy spoon – inexpensive restaurant with mediocre food. I hated dinner last night. It turned out being a greasy spoon.
gung ho – enthusiastic, eager. He thinks his team is the best in the league. He is really gung ho this season.
guts – courage. He has a lot of guts to stand up to management.
guy – man. That guy over there is my neighbor.
half baked – foolish, silly. Opening up a store which sells only tape will not be successful. It is a half baked idea.
hand it to someone – give credit, acknowledge. I’ve got to hand it to you. Your idea to open a store in this location was great.
hand over fist – rapidly. He’s making money hand over fist.
hand something on a silver platter – give a person something that has not been earned. His father is president of the university and his education was handed to him on a silver platter.
hand to mouth – barely able to cover basic expenses. That family is struggling since the father lost his job. I hear that they’re living hand to mouth.
handful – a lot of trouble. My three year old runs around the house and often breaks things. He’s a real handful.
handle with kid gloves – be very careful, tactful. His wife gets upset very easily. He has to handle her with kid gloves.
handy – can fix things, useful. She’s very handy around the house. If anything breaks, she can fix it easily.
hang in there – be patient, wait. I know you want to quit school, but hang in there. You only have 4 more weeks before your graduation.
hard feelings – anger, bitterness. I know we had our differences, but I hope there are not any hard feelings.
hard up – in desperate need of something. Everyone comes to her desk and takes supplies. I know she’s hard up for pencils.
harp on – dwell on the subject, repeat, persist. I know losing your job was awful, but don’t harp on it. You are only making yourself more depressed.
has-been – a person once popular but no longer in public favor. Since the movie star was found guilty of a crime, I haven’t seen him in any motion pictures. He’s a has-been.
hassle – bother. Please stay home tonight. I don’t want the hassle of having to bring you and pick you up from the party.
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have a ball – have a good time, enjoy one’s self. She had a ball at her holiday party.
have a crush on – be attracted to. I have had a crush on her since 5th grade.
have a fit – become upset. She’ll have a fit if she finds out you broke her watch.
have a good head on one’s shoulders – be smart or sensible. You have a good head on your shoulders and I’m sure you’ll do fine in college.
have a mind of one’s own – be able to think independently. Although we all voted one way, she voted in a completely opposite direction. She’s really got a mind of her own.
have a prayer – have a chance. He’s not good enough to make it on the team. He doesn’t have a prayer.
have been around – to be experienced, sophisticated. She knows all about office politics. She has been around for awhile.
have egg on one’s face – be embarrassed. She called in sick to work yesterday, but when I saw her at the store she had egg on her face.
have it coming – deserve a punishment. I didn’t study for the exam and I failed. I had it coming.
have it made – be sure of success, have everything. Ever since she won the lottery, she can do whatever she wants. She has it made.
have it out with someone – discuss a conflict or misunderstanding with the other person involved. My friend and I
had a big fight last week. This morning I had it out with him and now everything is okay.
have one’s feet on the ground – be practical, sensible, stable. She’ll make a great wife and mother because she has got both feet on the ground.
have one’s hand in the till – steal from one’s employer. The reason he has been buying such nice new clothes is that he’s got his hand in the till.
