Popular Expressions and Idioms

These are common expressions and idioms spoken in America and other English speaking countries.

An idiom is an expression that means something different from the literal meanings of its individual words.

Straight From the Horse’s Mouth

The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back

Leave It At That

Down to Earth

Do You Mind

Eye-Opening

Buy (What Someone Said)

For Crying Out Loud

Off the Top of One’s Head

The Big Picture

Set the Record Straight

To Have Butterflies In Your Stomach

To Be In the Doghouse

Crybaby

No Shit

The Point

It’s Not My First Rodeo

Look What the Cat Dragged In

Green Thumb

It Is What It Is

The Writing On the Wall

Don’t Get Me Wrong

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

Bear In Mind

Deal With It

Off and On

Break a Leg

Took the Words Right Out Of My Mouth

What’s the Deal?

Think Twice

Throw in the Towel

Mind-Boggling

Nip (Something) In the Bud

Squash the Beef

Don’t Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater

Knock Yourself Out

 On Fire

Take (Something) With a Grain of Salt

Cooler Heads Prevail

Excuse My French

Jump to Conclusions

Hit Home

Cut To the Chase

You Snooze, You Lose

Cliché

Throw Someone Off

Bark Up the Wrong Tree

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going

Out Cold

Fair and Square

Stick In the Mud

Doing “It”

Kill Someone With Kindness

Get Your Feet Wet

Eat One’s Words

Inside Out

Dime a Dozen

Steal One’s Thunder

Tomato Tomahto

In Over One’s Head

Skeletons In the Closet

Hush

Up the Creek Without a Paddle

Pull Your Head Out of Your Ass

Eureka!

Off the Hook

Tin Foil Hat

All the Rage

No Way

It’s On the Tip Of My Tongue

Cut the Cheese

Be an Open Book

Catch – 22

Let the Cat Out of the Bag

Living In a Bubble

Be On the Same Page

Shit Hits the Fan

Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You

Grass Is Greener On the Other Side of the Fence

Balls to the Wall

Pain In the Ass

Behold

Guilty Pleasure

Freak Accident

Like Looking For a Needle In a Haystack

Close, But No Cigar

For Christ’s/ God’s Sake

On the Fence

It Takes Two To Tango

Elephant In the Room

 Bury the Hatchet

Toot My / Your Own Horn

Going Cold Turkey

Does a Bear Shit In the Woods?

Saying “Period” At the End of a Sentence

Take On the World

Apples And Oranges

Canary In a Coalmine

Sly Dog

Is the Pope Catholic

In a Nutshell

Push the Envelope

Think Outside of the Box

Long Story Short

Out of the Blue

Dying Cause

Rat Race

Downfall

I’m Pooped

I’m Starving

Knock On Wood

My Bad

Duh

Stick Your Neck Out

Gee

To Go Off The Deep End

Whatever

Meanwhile

Vice Versa

Diva

For Real

No Sweat

Speak Of The Devil

Time Is Running Out

Underdog

Bandwagon

Corny