English idioms: 12 common ones with meanings and examples
B1–C112 words
Idioms are the part of English you cannot translate. Each one is a small piece of culture with a fixed meaning, and the only reliable way to own them is repeated exposure over weeks.
Where you will use it: Conversation, films, podcasts and informal writing.
English idioms — The word list
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| break the ice | To make people feel relaxed at first.“A joke helped break the ice.” |
| hit the books | To study hard.“I need to hit the books this weekend.” |
| under the weather | Slightly ill.“She's a bit under the weather today.” |
| a piece of cake | Very easy.“The test was a piece of cake.” |
| cost an arm and a leg | To be very expensive.“That flat costs an arm and a leg.” |
| once in a blue moon | Very rarely.“We meet once in a blue moon.” |
| on the same page | In agreement.“Let's make sure we're on the same page.” |
| call it a day | To stop working for now.“It's late — let's call it a day.” |
| get the hang of | To learn how to do something.“You'll get the hang of it quickly.” |
| in the long run | Over a long period.“It saves money in the long run.” |
| keep an eye on | To watch carefully.“Keep an eye on the time.” |
| out of the blue | Unexpectedly.“He called me out of the blue.” |
How to study this list
Add five or six of these words a day rather than all twelve at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.
Studying english idioms pairs well with our English collocations list, essential phrasal verbs list and restaurant English vocabulary, or browse all free English word lists.
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