Master 600 Idioms and Phrases
How does it sound and what effect does it have in the mind of readers or listeners if your grandma/grandpa says. "Don't teach me how to cook meals for kids", and again says, "Teach your granny to suck eggs?" Actually, both the sentences mean the same thing but in two different ways and evoke two different feelings in their minds. The former is a general warning not to meddle in the work initiated by the experienced hand, while the latter is a little sarcastic and in addition to the warning, it is mocking the ones who are trying to meddle in the tasks started by the veterans. finding the exact meaning of idiomatic expressions is not eating a piece of cake nor rocket science. It is but through constant reading and being with the native community that you master these expressions. The simplest and absolute reason for this is that they have evolved from and are ingrained in the history and culture of that linguistic community.
The use of idiomatic expressions has many benefits, bure care must be taken you do not overuse them. Few yet most noticeable reasons for the use of these expressions are highlighted below.
Reason #1: To give the expressions a literary effect, i.e., to evoke a special feeling in the audience.
Reason #2: To add style to one's expressions writing/speaking that gives the audience/readers a joyful relief while reading any considerably lengthy text like fiction.
Reason #3: To put across the information more precisely and to the point that a context demands.
Reason #4: To invite the readers/audience to think or read between the lines ( Think out of the box)
Reason #5: To better make others understand the culture and history of a particular linguistic community.
Reason #6: Least importantly also to sound and express like native speakers to some extent.
Here is a list of 600 idioms and phrases with their meanings. Try to put them in your own sentences, using a dictionary in case. Just go through all these idioms on a daily basis and soon you will start to see the change you have envisioned so far.
SN | Idioms & Phrases | Meanings |
1 | a burning question | an important matter/issue |
2 | a chapter of accident | series of misfortunes |
3 | a cock and bull’s story | a fake reason/an excuse |
4 | a dark horse | an unexpectedly smart/ intelligent person |
5 | a double-dealer | a cheat |
6 | a far cry | at a great distance |
7 | a feather in one’s cap | an accolade, an honor for an achievement |
8 | a fly on the wall | one who overhears others |
9 | a fool’s errand | a useless venture |
10 | a fool’s paradise | illusory happiness; a fake joy |
11 | a freelance writer | a writer at his own will |
12 | a Greek gift | gift with harming intention |
13 | a Herculean task | a very difficult task |
14 | a house of cards | a very fleeting poor structure; imaginary/unattainable goals |
15 | a jaundiced eye | a sense of partiality, favoring one side |
16 | a jolly dog | a jovial fellow |
17 | a lazy bone | a very lazy person |
18 | a maiden speech | the first speech of your life |
19 | a piece of cake | an easy task |
20 | a slip between the cup and the lip | an unfortunate thing/ blunder made almost at the last minute |
21 | a stab in the back | treachery; betrayal, deception |
22 | a white elephant | a big burden; something you cannot handle |
23 | a white lie | a harmless small lie; a lie that doesn't hurt anyone |
24 | a wolf in lamb’s attire | a cruel person pretending to be very kind |
25 | above all | most important of all; especially |
26 | absent-minded | forgetful;; oblivion of things going; inattentive |
27 | account for | to be responsible for something |
28 | act as antidote | to work to dilute/diminish the effect of something bad |
29 | act upon | to take action; to obey |
30 | acute accent | the mark above e in résumé |
