100 IDEOMS
100. TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Meaning: It is a clever or expert way of doing
something.
In a sentence: Being a businessman for half of my
life, I know all tricks of the trade.
99. LIVE IN AN IVORY TOWER
Meaning: This means living a lifestyle that saves you
from the real world problems.
In a sentence: Jay has problems in dealing with poor
people because she has lived in an ivory tower.
98. ACID TEST
Meaning: It means as Acid test proves the
effectiveness of something.
In a sentence: I already know how to compute
decimals but the acid test will come when our Math
professor will conduct assessment orally.
97. WHOLE BAG OF TRICKS
Meaning: This means trying all the clever means to
achieve something.
In a sentence: It was really difficult to pass the final
exam even after applying the whole bag of tricks.
96. FINE-TOOTH COMB
Meaning: This means of examining something
carefully so as not to miss out any details.
In a sentence: My thesis adviser examined my
report with a fine tooth comb before submitting it
to the panel for defense.
95. FAST TRACK SOMETHING
Meaning: This mean of rating something higher on a
priority list to achieve the desired result.
In a sentence: In view of the seriousness of the
crime, the civil society is pressing up on a fast track
decision from the court.
94. MEAN BUSINESS
Meaning: This means of being serious about what
you announce.
In a sentence: We mean business when we posted
announcement on the internet site.
93. NOT LET GRASS GROW UNDER FEET
Meaning: Don't delay in getting something done.
In a sentence: After making the administrative
Council signed the resolution, the Board Secretary
requested the Board for referendum on the
contracts. He doesn't let the grass grow under his
feet.
92. BACK-ROOM BOYS
Meaning: People who perform important work but
have no contact with the public.
In a sentence: Johnny Manahan and the writers of
the show are the back room boys that deserve more
applause than the artists performing on stage.
91. DEAD WOOD
Meaning: This refers to people or things which are
no longer useful or necessary.
In a sentence: The school acquires new laboratory
equipment. They no longer want the dead woods.
90. PLUM JOB
Meaning: This is a desirable position which is well-
paid and considered relatively easy.
Example - This looks like a plum job but it has its
own bunch of complications.
89. GOLDEN HANDSHAKE
Meaning: This refers to big sum of money given to a
person when they leave a company or retire.
In a sentence: When the company want to cut down
on the man power, they usually offer a golden hand
shake to many of their aged employees.
88. WAITING IN THE WINGS
Meaning: This means waiting for an opportunity to
take action, mostly to replace someone else in their
job.
In a sentence: Dr. Santos is going to retire in next 2
months. Two of his juniors who are waiting in the
wings will have a fierce competition.
87. LUMP IN YOUR THROAT
Meaning: It refers to a tight feeling in your throat
because of an emotion like sadness or gratitude.
In a sentence: I have a lump in my throat seeing my
daughter receiving a gold medal today after all the
hard years we have in the family.
86. HARD AS NAILS
Meaning: This refers to a person without
sentiments and sympathy for anyone.
In a sentence: He has become as hard as a nail after
his brother was brutally murdered.
85. PROUD AS PEACOCK
Meaning: It refers to an extremely proud person.
In a sentence: Ana’s mother is as proud as peacock
when Ana topped the board exam.
84. TONQUE-TIED
Meaning: It means difficulty in expressing oneself
because of nervousness or embarrassment.
 100 IDEOMS
In a sentence: Jody was completely tongue tied
when she met her crush in person.
83. SPEAK VOLUMES
Meaning: This is expresses a reaction without
words.
In a sentence: She always call to know if I was okay.
Her actions really speak volumes about her care and
concern for me.
82. NOT TURN A HAIR
Meaning: This refers to not exhibiting any emotion
where it is expected.
In a sentence: Martha didn’t turn a hair even after
her name was called as the Grand Prize Winner.
81. REDUCE TO TEARS
Meaning: It means getting into tears because of
some one's behaviour.
In a sentence: Greta reduced to tears when her
boyfriend stopped seeing her.
80. IN THE BAG
Meaning - Refers to a situation when you are sure
that success is sure.
In a sentence: The BPA Team fans rise to yell, the
victory seems to be in the bag after the opponent’s
best player failed to shoot in last two seconds time.
79. BLOW UP IN FACE
Meaning: This refers to a situation when a plan or
project suddenly fails.
In a sentence: It was difficult to be on time in the
venue. It blew up in the face when the bus didn’t
arrive on time at the station.
78. CAKE NOT WORTH A CANDLE
Meaning: This refers to something in which results
are too less compared to the effort.
In a sentence: Mr. Duping studied so hard in
Economics exam but still he got the low score. The
cake wasn't worth the candle.
77. CHANCE ON ONE’S ARM
Meaning: This is referring to deciding to do
something even though the chances of success are
very little.
In a sentence: Considering her height, Grace knew
that there was little chance of her to be casted in
Bb. Panabo 2015 but she still decided to chance her
arm.
76. MAKE A GO OF
Meaning: This means you are succeeding in your
enterprise.
In a sentence: With his hard work and dedication,
he has made a go of his new venture.
75. FLYING START
Meaning: This refers to something that is
immediately successful.
In a sentence: “Praybet Benjamin” hit the box office
with a flying start and collected the highest revenue
on day 1 of Metro Manila Film Festival.
74. LIVE ON THE BREADLINE
Meaning. This means having very little income.
In a sentence: The war in Mindanao caused many
natives live on the breadline.
73. MAKE OR BREAK
Meaning: This refers to circumstances causing total
success or total ruin.
In a sentence: Your performance in the Q and A
portion will make or break you.
This job is just an icing on the cake.
72. LANDSLIDE VICTORY
Meaning: It is overwhelming victory received by a
candidate of political party at an election.
In a sentence: The ASAP Party are expecting a
landslide victory after a win of more of than 50%
seats in the first two hours of counting.
71. RAGS TO RICHES
Meaning: This refers to experiences of those who
are becoming very rich while starting very poor.
In a sentence: Manny’s determination, hard work
and perseverance got him rags to riches.
70. ON THE PIG’S BACK
Meaning: This refers to a person, event, idea in
successful and well situation.
In a sentence: Her studies was on the pig’s back
before she met Adrian.
69. MISS THE BOAT
Meaning: This refers to failure to take advantage of
an opportunity because of slow actions.
In a sentence: I wasn’t able to pass my project in
advance and failed to earn an early bird bonus
points. Submitting late made me miss the boat.
68. SMASH HIT
Meaning: This refers to music, films which are very
successful.
In a sentence: PSY’s “Gentleman” is a smash hit in a
month’s time.
67. MURPHY’S LAW
Meaning: This means that if anything can go wrong,
it will.
 100 IDEOMS
In a sentence: Lora prepared for the worst in the
debate but she doesn't forget the Murphy's law.
66. PLACE IN THE SUN
Meaning: This refers to a position which provides
you all the success and happiness you want in your
life.
In a sentence: Adrianna found a place in the sun
after getting married to the scion of the richest
family in town.
65. SINK OR SWIM
Meaning: This simply means “fail or succeed”.
In a sentence: The removal exam will decide if
Dayna sinks or swims.
64. CHAMPAGNE ON A BEER BUDGET
Meaning: This means wanting expensive things that
you cannot afford.
In a sentence: She always buys things out of her
budget. She has developed a taste for champagne
on beer budget.
63. TOP DOG
Meaning: This refers to very successful group,
company, person, country etc.
Example: The result of the recently concluded Miss
Universe proved that USA is the top dog in terms of
beauty pageants.
62. KEEP UP APPEARANCES
Meaning: This means maintaining an outward show
of prosperity or well-being while hiding your
difficulties
In a sentence: Her smile and taste of fashion keep
up her appearances to her friends and colleagues.
61. WOODEN SPOON
Meaning: This refers to imaginary prize for the last
person in a race.
In a sentence: We won a wooden spoon at the
fashion show.
60. HAVE THE WORLD BY ITS TAIL
Meaning: This refers to a very successful person
who can choose from a lot of opportunities.
In a sentence: Graduated magna cum laude, Victor
is now having the world by its tail.
59. LIVE BEYOND MEANS
Meaning: This means spending more money than
you can afford. This is similar to “champagne on a
beer budget”
In a sentence: Carol has a habit of living beyond her
means. Most of the times, you will find her
borrowing the money from her friends.
58. HIT THE ROAD RUNNING
Meaning: This means to start performing
immediately.
In a sentence: She came late that’s why she hit the
road running just seconds of her arrival.
57. ACHILLES HEEL
Meaning: This expression refers to a vulnerable
area or a weak spot, in an otherwise strong
situation, that could cause one's downfall or failure.
In a sentence: Mayor Manato considers his love of
women as his Achilles heel.
56. AGAINST THE CLOCK
Meaning: If you do something against the clock, it
means that you are rushed and have very little time
to do it.
In a sentence: The students are working against the
clock to have the oral presentation ready for an
hour.
55. WEAR THE TROUSERS
Meaning: This refers to the one who makes the
important decisions in a couple.
In a sentence: In John’s family, his mother always
wears the trousers especially in budgeting.
54. ADD FUELS TO THE FLAMES
Meaning: If you add fuel to the flames, this means
that you do or say something that makes a difficult
situation even worse.
In a sentence: Raul forgot their monthsary, and his
excuses only added fuel to the flames.
53. WET BLANKET
Meaning: When you refer to someone as a wet
blanket, you mean that they spoil other people's
fun, or make an event less enjoyable than it could
have been.
In a sentence: Come on Mike! Don't be such a wet
blanket. You're spoiling the party!
52. BLIND AS A BAT
Meaning: This refer to someone whose vision is
very poor, or who is unable to see anything.
In a sentence: Clarisse is totally dependent on her
glasses. Without them, she is as blind as a bat.
51. BLIND LEADING THE BLIND
Meaning: This expression describes a person with
very little ability trying to help or guide a person
with no ability.
In a sentence: Don’t ask me to help you in your
speech. I could hardly speaks English words right. I
don’t want to be blind leading the blind.
 100 IDEOMS
50. BLINK OF AN EYE
Meaning: If something happens in the blink of an
eye, this means that it happens nearly
instantaneously, with hardly enough time to notice
it.
In a sentence: Martina just disappeared in the blink
of an eye.
49. MAKES YOUR BLOOD BOIL
Meaning: If something makes your blood boil, it
means that it makes you really angry.
In a sentence: The absence of Pres. Aquino on the
arrival of the FALLEN 44 made the Filipinos blood
boil.
48. MAKES YOUR BLOOD RUN COLD
Meaning: If something makes your blood run cold, it
means it shocks or scares you a lot.
In a sentence: The tiger look of our English teacher
made my blood run cold.
47. JACK OF ALL TRADES
Meaning: A jack of all trades is referring to a person
who can do many different things but is not very
good at any one of them.
In a sentence: I can sing, I can dance, I can write, I
can act but I do not excel on any of them. Now, I
realize that I am a jack of all trades.
46. GET THE JITTERS
Meaning: If you get (or have) the jitters, especially
before an important event, you become very
nervous or anxious and begin to shake.
In a sentence: Students get the jitters when they are
told to perform in front of the class.
45. COOK SOMEONE’S GOOSE
Meaning - Spoil other person's chances of success.
In a sentence: Alfred cooks someone’s goose when
he failed to answer easy questions in the quiz bowl.
44. GO UP IN SMOKE
Meaning: This refers to something that ends before
getting a result.
In a sentence: Her plan of cheating in the exam has
gone in smoke after the proctor inspected all the
examinees things.
43. GO TO THE DOGS
Meaning: This means getting comparably less
successful than before.
In a sentence: With the inexperience of the SSC
president on budgeting, the student council is going
to dogs.
42. LET SLIP THROUGH FINGERS
Meaning: This means failing to obtain or keep up a
good opportunity.
In a sentence: This reporting could be your chance
to chosen as the class debater. Please don't let it
slip through your fingers.
41. COME UP ROSES
Meaning: This refers to successful end results even
though there may be some initial hiccups.
In a sentence: The PBB Guidelines seems to be
coming up roses in spite of initial hiccups and
controversies.
40. MAKE YOUR FLESH CRAWL
Meaning: This refers to something that makes you
feel disgusting or nervous.
In a sentence: The picture of the Fallen 44 posted
on Facebook made my flesh crawl.
39. SWALLOW ONE’S PRIDE
Meaning: This means accepting something
humiliating or embarrassing.
In a sentence: To keep your good relationship with
your teacher, you have to swallow your pride and
sincerely apologize.
38. LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Meaning: When you look on the bright side, you
view an unpleasant situation in a positive light.
In a sentence: You met with an accident but look on
the bright side - you managed to get away just with
some bruises.
37. LICK ONE’S WOUNDS
Meaning: When someone licks one’s wounds, it
means that he is trying to regain their confidence or
boost up the spirits after a defeat.
In a sentence: Janna is licking her wounds after
being dropped from the Deans List.
36. GO BANANAS
Meaning: This refers to someone who behaves in a
crazy way out of emotions.
In a sentence: Angel’s decision to get married will
make her family go bananas.
35. BEARD THE LION IN HIS DEN
Meaning: This means that you challenge someone
in his own area.
In a sentence: If he doesn't come to see me today,
I'll have to beard the lion in his den.
 100 IDEOMS
34. GROAN INWARDLY
Meaning: Groan inwardly refers to a feeling where
you want to express despair, disapproval or
distress, but you keep quite.
In a sentence: Brandon was quite disappointed at
the sarcastic remark by his friend but looking at the
situation he just groaned inwardly.
33. KEEP A STIFF UPPER LIP
Meaning: It refers to a person who doesn't show off
his emotions.
In a sentence: The wayward son heard the news
about his father's demise but kept a stiff upper lip
32. GET THE AXE
Meaning: Paradoxically, when you get the axe, it
means you lose the job.
In a sentence: The projects team was undergoing a
major restructuring, and recruitment. Absolutely,
the executives were the first to get the axe.
31. SEPARATE SHEEP FROM GOATS
Meaning: This means examining a group of people
and deciding their suitability.
In a sentence: The audition was conducted by the
director of the theatre guild to separate sheep from
goats.
30. SHAPE UP OR SHAPE OUT
Meaning: This expression is used to warn someone
that if they do not improve their ways, they will
have to leave their job.
In a sentence: When Stephen started neglecting his
assignments, the dean told him shape up or ship
out.
29. KEEP YOUR FINGERS ON THE PULSE
Meaning: If you keep your fingers on the pulse, you
are being constantly aware of the most recent
developments.
In a sentence: An IT practitioner must keep his
fingers on the pulse of the world technology and
computers.
28. SAIL THROUGH SOMETHING
Meaning: You are being successful in doing
something without difficulty, if you sail through
something.
In a sentence: You sailed through the celebration of
the Charter Day. It was indeed successful.
27. THINK ON YOUR FEET
Meaning: You are adjusting quickly to changes and
making fast decisions when you think on your feet.
In a sentence: Her shifting to another course
program is thinking on her feet.
26. WORK LIKE CHARM
Meaning: It means that it works very well or has the
desired effect.
In a sentence: I did not eat cold foods like ice
creams days before the competition and it worked
like a charm.
25. BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW
Meaning: You are taking a task that is way too big.
In a sentence: I think you need to realize that you
bit off more than you can chew in hosting this
event.
24. DON’T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THE
EGGS HAVE HATCHED.
Meaning: This idiom is used to express "Don't make
plans for something that might not happen".
23. DON’T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET.
Meaning: This expression means not to put all your
resources in one possibility.
In a sentence: There are still games to play, don’t
put all your eggs in one basket.
22. FAIR-WEATHER FRIEND
Meaning: This refers to someone who acts as a
friend when times are good, and is not there when
you are in trouble.
In a sentence: I thought I could count on Bill, but
I've discovered he's just a fair-weather friend.
21. TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Meaning: This term refers to a clever or expert way
of doing things, especially in a job.
In a sentence: He's a tough negotiator; he knows all
the tricks of the trade.
20. CHICKEN OUT
Meaning: If you chicken out of something, you
decide not to do something because you are afraid.
In a sentence: Carlos decided to join a karate class,
but chickened out at the last minute.
19. DRASTIC TIMES CALL FOR DRASTIC MEASURES
When you are extremely desperate you need to
take drastic actions. This what the expression
means.
18. ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING.
Meaning: This expression means that the show has
come to an end. It's all over.
In a sentence: Elvis has left the building when I
arrived.
 100 IDEOMS
17. FEEL A BIT UNDER THE WEATHER
Meaning: When you feel a bit under the weather,
you feel slightly ill.
In a sentence: I was absent from the class because I
felt a bit under the weather.
16. IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO
Meaning: This refers to actions or communications
that need more than one person.
In a sentence: It takes two to tango to talk on other
person’s life.
15. HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD
Meaning: You hit the nail on the head when you do
or say something exactly right.
In a sentence: The universe applauded Miss Jamaica
when she hit the nailed on the head during the Q
and A portion.
14. PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS
Meaning: This means that a visual presentation is
far more descriptive than words.
In a sentence: This painting tells a lot. Indeed, a
picture paints a thousand words.
13. TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE
Meaning: This means that something happens to
you, or is done to you, that you have done to
someone else
In a sentence: The bullied freshmen tasted his own
medicine when he was bullied by the seniors of the
school.
12. JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON
Meaning: You jump on the bandwagon when you
join a popular trend or activity.
In a sentence: Let’s jump on the bandwagon. Let us
also color our hair purple.
11. KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE
Meaning: This idiom means to accomplish two
different things at the same time.
In a sentence: Self-supporting students are killing
two birds with one stone.
10. CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT
Meaning: This means that being inquisitive can lead
you into an unpleasant situation.
9. GIVE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
Meaning: You believe on someone's statement,
without proof.
In a sentence: Why not give her the benefit of the
doubt before deciding a punishment?
8. YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE.
Meaning: It is used to tell that you have no idea, or
you do not know the answer to a question.
In a sentence: I am sorry sir but your guess is as
good as mine.
7. DELIVER THE GOODS
Meaning: When you deliver the goods, you do what
is expected or promised.
In a sentence: I have given my car to a new
mechanic for repair, hope he delivers the goods.
6. CHASE YOUR TAIL
Meaning: This means spending a lot of time and
energy doing a lot of things but actually achieving
too little.
In a sentence: He's been chasing his tail all week
collecting data but the report is still not ready.
5. GET THE SHOW ON THE ROAD
Meaning. This means of putting up a plan or idea
into action.
In a sentence: Now that we have completed all the
legal formalities, let's get the show on the road.
4. CUT ONE’S OWN THROAT
Meaning: Doing something that will cause your own
failure is cutting one’s own throat.
In a sentence: Danica is cutting her own throat
when she partied late at night before the day of the
exam.
3. JUGGLE FROGS
Meaning: A person who is juggling frogs is trying to
deal with many different tasks at the same time and
finding the situation difficult.
In a sentence: I feel like I'm juggling frogs when I got
a lot of some things to do at the same time.
2. EXPLORE ALL AVENUES
Meaning: Trying out every possibility to get a result
is exploring all avenues.
In a sentence: It is a difficult thing to do but if we
really want it done, we must explore all avenues.
1. GET DUCKS IN A ROW
Meaning: This idiom means getting your things well
organized.
In a sentence: To ensure a successful investiture
ceremony, we must get our ducks in a row.