American Idioms and Phrases: This English lesson will teach you 50 very natural and incredibly useful English phrases and idioms. If you don’t know idioms and phrases let me tell you first. Well, an idiom is an expression that cannot be taken literally, whereas a phrase is a group of words that express a concept and is often used as an idiom
On this page, you will learn 50 American idioms and phrases, along with their meanings and example sentences. I will explain all the idioms and phrases in context. These American phrases and idioms are very useful, as you can use them in all sorts of conversations: friendly, professional, and every day.
50 American Idioms and Phrases With Meaning
- Under the radar
- Give me a hand
- Give it the old college try
- Start from scratch
- Make from scratch
- Take a chill pill
- Don’t add insult to injury
- Caught you red-handed
- Hold your horses
- Break the ice
- hit the hay
- Draw a blank
- Take the bait
- Cover all of the bases
- Stay on top of it
- You nailed it
- That’s an old wives’ tale
- It’s not rocket science
- Heart of gold
- Sell life hotcakes
- A far cry from
- I don’t trust you as far as I could throw you
- It doesn’t sit well sit me
- Once in a blue moon
- A case of the Mondays
- Sunday scaries
- On the top of the world
- I am at my wit’s end
- I can’t win
- Why the long face?
- High and dry
- I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse
- The last straw that broke the camel’s back
- It builds character
- You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.
- Don’t make mountains out of molehills
- Keep your chin up
- I didn’t catch that
- Go big or go home/ risk it to get the biscuit
- Down to the wire
- I don’t know it off the top of my head
- See the light
- Missing the forest for the trees
- Don’t spit in the wind
- Easier said than done
- Preaching to the choir
- Shooting fish in a barrel
- Go hand in hand
- Bite the bullet
Topic 1: Friendly, Professional and Everyday
1. Under the radar
Maning: not getting attention, unnoticed
Explanation
Have you ever wanted to do something in secret or without being noticed? You are doing it under the radar. Of course, this phrase comes from actually looking at the technology of radar.
Radar is used, I believe, in airplanes and submarines to see what other airplanes are in the sky or what other ships are in the water. So, if you do something without being noticed, you are doing it under the radar.
2. Give me a hand
Meaning: help me with the task
Explanation
If you ask for someone to give you a hand, you are asking them to help you. Sometimes we also say this phrase as “lend me a hand,” meaning, can you help me?
Still, if you were moving in your home and you had to pick up something very heavy, you might say, “Hey, could you lend me a hand? This is quite heavy.”
3. Give it the old college try
Meaning: to try your best at an unfamiliar or challenging task
Explanation
If you are not sure that you can do something, but you’re going to try your best, you can say, “I’m going to give it the old college try.” This is a really interesting English phrase, and it just means that you’re going to try your best. It’s a fun phrase to use when you’re just gonna give it a go. You haven’t done it before, and you don’t think you’re gonna do a great job.
You give it the old college try. For example: I’m not very good at singing, but when I sing song, I give it the old college try.
4. Start from scratch
Meaning: to begin with nothing
Explanation
If you are beginning something from the very start, you have not worked on it before; you are starting from scratch.
If you had a paper due for homework, like an essay, and you hadn’t started at all, you might say to your friend, “I need to get going. I have to start from scratch tonight.” That means you’re starting from nothing. But this phrase is used very frequently to say that you are starting from the beginning. [American Idioms and Phrases]
5. Make (something) from scratch
Meaning: to make with base ingredients, not store-bought
Explanation
That means you have gone out to the store and bought individual ingredients, or maybe you have a garden that you’ve grown some of the ingredients in, and you are going to homemade food. That is making it from scratch.
I personally love to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I think it tastes so much better than just buying cookie dough.
6. Take a chill pill
Meaning: go relax, as if you could take medicine to be less worried
Explanation:
You can tell someone to “take a chill pill.” This means not literally taking any sort of medication; you are telling them to relax, to calm down.
This phrase can be a little bit rude if you’re using it when someone is very angry or very worked up, so be careful with it. But if you’re just telling your friend, “Hey, you need to relax,” you can say, “Could you please take a chill pill?” or just “Take a chill pill.” Hopefully, they can step back, relax, and take a deep breath when you tell them to take a chill pill.
7. Don’t add insult to injury
Meaning: don’t say or do something to make a bad situation
Explanation:
A similar phrase that is a little bit difficult to explain, so I’ll do my best here, is when you tell someone, “Don’t add insult to injury.” So, this means that you don’t want the person to say something to make an already bad situation worse.
You can tell someone, “Don’t add insult to injury,” or you can say that something has just “added insult to injury.”
For example: If you’re having a really bad day at work, maybe you were late into the office and you got locked out of your computer, you forgot your password, and then it’s lunchtime and you forgot your lunch, you could say, “This day is so bad, and forgetting my lunch just added insult to injury.” So, this phrase just means it made a bad situation worse.
8. Caught you red-handed
Meaning: to see someone directly break a rule or commit a crime
Explanation
This phrase means that you have caught someone in the act of doing something bad. It is as if they had red paint on their hands and made handprints all over, leading you to knowing that they committed the crime or they committed a wrongdoing.
A really common thing for kids to do is to climb up and reach into the cookie jar, even when their parents have said, “Hey, no more sweets, no more cookies for today.” Maybe if you went into your kitchen and you saw your son or your daughter taking a cookie out of the cookie jar, you could say, “I have caught you red-handed. I saw you do it.” [American Idioms and Phrases]
9. Hold your horses
Meaning: wait a moment
Explanation
Now, this is another action that you can tell someone to do. This means to wait, to relax, and stop being so eager. So maybe if your friend was waiting to use a book that you’re reading and you are still trying to finish that book, and they say, “Hey, can I borrow that book?” you need to say, “Hold your horses. I’m not done with this book yet.” This just means be patient, wait a little bit longer.
10. Break the ice
Meaning: To make an introduction or get over the awkwardness of meeting a new person
Explanation
Have you ever been in a situation where you are meeting new people for the first time, and maybe you have a new class or a new workplace, and you have to have those initial or first conversations to break the ice? This phrase, “break the ice,” just means that you need to become comfortable and start to get to know people.
Oftentimes when we ask people questions that are meant to get to know one another, we call those “icebreakers.” It can be so awkward to break the ice when you are meeting new people. Especially if you are introverted.
11. Hit the hay
Meaning: go rest, or go to sleep
Explanation
When I need to go to sleep, I often say, “Hey, I’m gonna hit the hay. I’ll see you in the morning.” “I’ve gotta go hit the hay.” This just means that you’re going to bed.
It’s a common phrase that we use in the United States to say, “I’m going to go to bed,” “I’m going to hit the hay.”
12. Draw a blank
Meaning: to be unable to think of an answer or other piece of information
Explanation
When you don’t know the answer to a question and just nothing comes into your brain, you can say, “I am completely drawing a blank.”
It’s a very polite and very common way to just say, “I have no idea,” “Nothing comes into my brain when you ask me that question.”
if you’re in a conversation and you want to say, “I spoke with a girl, but I’m drawing a blank on her name,” this means that you can’t remember her name, but you can remember the full conversation with her. You’re just drawing a blank on a specific piece of information. [American Idioms and Phrases]
13. Take the bait
Meaning: someone has said something intentionally to make you have a strong reaction
Explanation
If you use this idiom it means that you are trying to get a person to say something or to give you information by kind of asking a question or just saying something that might make them reveal to you what you want to know.
So maybe you are trying to figure out some gossip from a friend. You are saying, “So, how’s your relationship with Jeff going?” And they just say, “It’s fine.” You say, “They did not take the bait on that one. I was trying to find out about their argument or their fight.” That’s just one example of taking the bait.
Another example of this phrase, “taking the bait,” is when you say something to purposely make someone angry or kind of start talking a lot about a certain topic.
14. Cover all of the bases
Meaning: to prepare for every possibility that could happen in a situation
Explanation
When I teach you an English phrase, I want you to know all of the different meanings of it and all of the different ways it’s used. I want to cover the bases. This baseball idiom, “to cover the bases,” means that you want to make sure that you haven’t forgotten to do anything that will make whatever it is you’re doing successful.
So in this example, I want to make sure that you know all the ways that this can be used. This phrase, “I’m trying to cover my bases.” A baseball team will have people playing all the positions on the bases.
15. Stay on top of it
Meaning: to continuously be aware of your duties
Explanation
A phrase that’s very similar to covering your bases is “to stay on top of something.” Oftentimes at work, we get lots of emails; we get lots of phone calls, and sometimes we can forget things or we can miss appointments. If you keep a very good calendar, you can stay on top of things. You can make sure that you won’t forget anything.
So if you want to make sure that you won’t forget things or you just want to make sure that you’re doing a very good job, you can say, “I’m trying to stay on top of things.”
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16. You nailed it
Meaning: to have done a great thorough job
Explanation
A compliment that you could give someone to say that they did an excellent job is, you can say, “You nailed it.” So hopefully on this English lesson, I nailed it. I did a really good job.
It’s similar to the phrase saying, “You hit the nail on the head.” That means you did a really good job or you answered the question precisely. You got the exact correct answer. So you can say, “You nailed it,” or “You hit the nail on the head.”
Topic 2: American Idioms to describe useful situations
So now we’ll move on to some idioms and phrases that will help you describe things and that are very useful for all types of situations of describing things.
18. That’s an old wives’ tale
Meaning: A superstition or traditional; belief that is regarded as unscientific or incorrect
Explanation
If you describe something as an “old wives’ tale,” you are saying that it’s probably not true; it’s probably not backed up by scientific research. It’s just something that people have been saying for many, many generations. There are tons of old wives’ tales that will tell you whether your baby is a boy or a girl, but at the end of the day, you really just need to get an ultrasound or a picture of the baby inside of your stomach to know if it’s a boy or a girl.
An example of an old wives’ tale would be that baby girls steal their mom’s beauty. So during pregnancy, if you feel ugly, you could say that you’re having a girl. She’s stealing your beauty. Of course, that is not true; it’s just an old wives’ tale. [American Idioms and Phrases]
19. It’s not rocket science
Meaning: describing something that is simple.
Explanation
If you want to describe something as being easy and not challenging at all, you can say, “Well, it’s not rocket science.” This means that it doesn’t take a very advanced skill set, or you don’t have to have a ton of knowledge to do it. Like designing a rocket would take a lot of knowledge. This is not rocket science. This is used to say it’s actually quite easy.
So when you buy furniture from a store and you have to put it together, usually you get directions. It’s not rocket science to put it together, but it just takes a little bit of time.
20. Heart of gold
Meaning: A kind and generous personality
Explanation
If you describe somebody as having a “heart of gold,” it means they are very compassionate and they are very loving and very kind. So you can say, they have a total heart of gold. They just adopted a boy into their family. This just means they are very compassionate and it’s like their heart is made of gold.
21. Sell like hotcakes
Meaning: if something sells like hotcakes, it means it’s selling fast.
Explanation
You might hear an English speaker describe something as “selling like hotcakes.” Hotcakes are another word for pancakes, which are delicious, of course.
So if you say that something is selling like hotcakes, it means that people are buying it really fast and buying a lot of it.
22. A far cry from
Meaning: very different from
Explanation
If you say something is a “far cry from” something else, it means that the two things are not closely related, or they don’t look alike, or they don’t sound alike. So my singing is a far cry from Adele. It’s not good at all. You could also say, “He’s a far cry from a model.” He’s not very good-looking. These are unkind examples, but you get the point.
23. I don’t trust you as far as I could throw you
Meaning: when you find someone untrustworthy or suspicious
Explanation
If you want to describe someone as not being trustworthy or not someone that you can trust, you can say, “I do not trust them as far as I can throw them.”
And most of the time, you can’t actually throw a person because they’re so heavy, meaning you don’t trust that person very much because you couldn’t throw them very far. I personally do not trust cats as far as I could throw them.
So if you want to tell someone that you can’t trust them, you can say, ‘I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.’ It’s an idiom meaning you don’t trust them.
24. It doesn’t sit well sit me
Meaning: something that sounds morally wrong to you
Explanation
When you learn a piece of information that just doesn’t sound very good to you, it’s kind of alarming to you. It doesn’t sound like it was the right thing to do. You can say, ‘It doesn’t sit well with me.’ Also, you can describe food as ‘It doesn’t sit well with you,’ meaning it upsets your stomach.
25. Once in a blue moon
Meaning: something that lonely happens rarely
Explanation
If you do something infrequently, like less than once a month or less than every about three months, you can say, ‘I only do it once in a blue moon.’ This is just an idiom to describe something that you don’t do frequently or often.
If you don’t drink often, you could say, ‘I only have a glass of wine once in a blue moon.’
26. A case of the Mondays
Meaning: a feeling of dread at the beginning of the workweek
Explanation
A way to describe the feeling of having to go to work on Monday after a fun weekend that you really enjoyed and you’re not looking forward to work, or you’re at work and you’re not enjoying it, you can say, ‘I have the Mondays’ or ‘I have a case of the Mondays.’ That means you have a case of feeling like you don’t want to be at work right now after such a relaxing weekend. [American Idioms and Phrases]
27. Sunday scaries
Meaning: the feeling of dread on Sunday night before the workweek
Explanation
Another really good phrase to describe a feeling like Mondays that isn’t as common, but I really like this phrase, is the ‘Sunday scaries.’ If you dread going to work or going to school or doing whatever you have to do on Monday, you can say, ‘I have the Sunday scaries.’ That’s just that feeling of dread on a Sunday night. I hope that you do not have the Sunday scaries.
28. On the top of the world
Meaning: a feeling of being invincible, and happy
Explanation
When you are feeling like you have been victorious, you feel so happy. Things are going really well for you, you can say, ‘I feel like I am on top of the world.’ That just means you feel very superior and very lucky at the moment.
I personally really like to exercise, and running, it puts me in a really good mood and I feel on top of the world.
29. I am at my wit’s end
Meaning: a state of anger, distress, and confusion
Explanation
If you are angry about something and you’re just totally done with the situation, you don’t want to deal with it anymore because it angers you so much, you can say, ‘I am at my wit’s end.’ This just means that you will not deal with the situation anymore because it makes you angry. ‘I am at my wit’s end with my neighbors. They are so loud I can’t even sleep at night.’
30. I can’t win
Meaning: feeling like success is not possible, hopeless
Explanation
We talked about feeling like you’re on top of the world. The opposite of this feeling would be, ‘I just can’t win.’ ‘I can’t win’ is used when you are feeling like you are just getting the worst outcome out of every situation. ‘This morning all my clothes were dirty, I got caught in traffic, it rained on me when I was walking into work. I just can’t win.’
31. Why the long face?
Meaning: a way to ask someone why they look so sad
Explanation
If you want to ask someone why they look so sad, you can say, ‘Why the long face?’ A long face would describe someone who’s sad. I’m not really sure exactly why we say ‘long face,’ maybe because your face looks long when you frown, but if you want to ask someone why they look sad, you can ask them, ‘Why the long face?’
32. High and dry
Meaning: in a difficult position, especially without resources
Explanation
If someone leaves you in a bad situation with no good resources, you can say, ‘They left me high and dry.’ So maybe if you were going to a friend’s house and they told you that they would feed you lunch, but they actually didn’t have any food, you can say, ‘Wow, you really left me high and dry. I’m very hungry.’ This phrase is just used whenever someone leaves you without something that was promised or something that was expected. [American Idioms and Phrases]
33. I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse
Meaning: to be extremely hungry
Explanation
If you are extremely hungry, a really common phrase to use is that you are so hungry that you could eat a horse. Of course, you could not literally eat a full horse. Horses weigh hundreds of pounds. But American English speakers are always using horse-related idioms to describe things. So if you’re extremely hungry, you can just say, ‘I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.’
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34. The last straw that broke the camel’s back
Meaning: the last event in a series of bad events, that gave you feelings of misery/anger
Explanation
This means this is the last thing or situation that I’m going to deal with. I’m really angry at this point, and I won’t deal with it anymore. So sometimes when people break up in relationships, they say something like, ‘This was the last straw.’
The last straw or the straw that broke the camel’s back is the situation that made you quit or give up.
Topic 3: American phrases to describe positive things
So these next phrases are used to describe things that teach you a lesson in life, usually a positive lesson.
35. It builds character
Meaning: the negative experience is valuable because you will learn from it
Explanation
A really common phrase in America is to say, ‘It builds character.’ If something bad has happened to someone or they have to deal with just a lot of hardship, you can say, ‘It builds character.’
Personally, when I had my first job and customers were very rude to me—I worked at a restaurant—and the customers would be rude to me sometimes, my mom would say, ‘It builds character. It’s good to have a job like this,’ which I totally agree with her. It does build character. It just means that it makes you a stronger person and it gives you more respect for things. If it builds character.
36. You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs
Meaning: you can’t make a positive change without some obstacle or challenges
Explanation
Another phrase that describes a lesson that you have to learn is, ‘You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.’ This phrase means that it’s impossible to achieve something important without making mistakes or having some bad things happen.
A situation I think of is when businesses are trying to become more eco-friendly, so maybe they aren’t using as much plastic or packaging, and people say, ‘Oh, my product broke because it wasn’t shipped with as much packaging.’ Well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. Some people are not going to like the change that you’re making, but there are going to be some negative things that happen. And of course, an omelet is an egg dish that usually has vegetables or meats in it for breakfast.
So the idiom’s just saying that you can’t make something good without a few bad things happening. [American Idioms and Phrases]
37. Don’t make mountains out of molehills
Meaning: don’t make a small problem bigger than it really is by overreacting
Explanation
When you want to tell someone that they shouldn’t make a big deal out of something that isn’t actually harmful or isn’t actually a problem, it’s very minor, you can say, ‘Don’t make mountains out of molehills.’ Molehills would be very small things that moles, like the animals, live in, and obviously, a mountain is quite large. So you shouldn’t make a small problem into something big by making a big deal or worrying a lot about it.
38. Keep your chin up
Meaning: don’t be discouraged, remain positive
Explanation
A very common phrase that we tell one another in America is to keep your chin up. Maybe you have a phrase like this in your language as well, but it just means to remain positive in a negative situation.
Topic 4: American Idioms for Conversations
Let’s move on to some sayings now that we use so much in English that I want you to know about. These are phrases that will be super useful in conversations.
39. I didn’t catch that
Meaning: you were unable to hear or understand what was said
Explanation
If you want to tell someone that you didn’t understand what they said or you didn’t hear what they said, you can say, ‘I didn’t catch that.’ ‘I didn’t catch that’ means ‘I didn’t understand it.’
40. Go big or go home/ risk it to get the biscuit
Meaning: aim for large achievements or don’t try at all
Explanation
I have two phrases that both mean that you should try to achieve something really good even if it involves a little risk. You can say, ‘Go big or go home,’ or you can say, ‘My favorite phrase,’ ‘You’ve gotta risk it to get the biscuit.’
The second phrase here is not common at all, but I do say it because I think it’s kind of a funny phrase, ‘You’ve got to risk it to get the biscuit.’ So maybe if you’re gambling and you want to bet a lot of money on something, you can say, ‘Well, you’ve got to go big or go home.’ This just means you’ve got to try to win a lot or just don’t try at all. Or if you’re me, you’ll say, ‘You’ve got to risk it to get the biscuit.’ This just means you should risk a lot for a big reward.
41. Down to the wire
Meaning: there is a small amount of time before a deadline or ending
Explanation
If something is getting very close, for instance, again, if it’s a sporting game and maybe there’s only a few minutes left, you can say, ‘It’s really down to the wire.’ That means there’s just a small amount of time left.
A wire is very thin, so you’re describing time as wire in this situation. There’s not a lot of it. It’s getting down to the wire. That means there’s not a lot of time left in a game. Or if you have a project or assignment for work due soon, you can say, ‘It’s really getting down to the wire. I have to finish soon.’
42. I don’t know it off the top of my head
Meaning: you have seen the information but cannot recall it from memory
Explanation
Another good phrase to use if you don’t know the answer while you’re speaking but you could go look it up is you can say, ‘I don’t know it off the top of my head.’ This means, ‘I don’t know it in my memory, but I can go look at the information. I know where to find it. I don’t know every state capital off the top of my head, but I can just look it up.’
43. See the light
Meaning: understanding the truth of a situation after being unable
Explanation
If you see the light of the situation, it means you understand the truth or the true meaning of the situation. For instance, if you get to know a person and then you find out that they’re actually not a very good person, you can say, ‘I really see the light. She is a liar and not very kind.’
You can also use this phrase in a very positive way too. You could say something like, ‘I really see the light now. I understand why it’s so important to eat healthy,’ or some other sort of positive truth or positive message. [American Idioms and Phrases]
44. Missing the forest for the trees
Meaning: concentrating too much on a small aspect of a large problem
Explanation
A really interesting popular English saying is to say that you’re missing the forest for the trees. This means that you are not looking at the entire situation or the entire problem while you’re trying to solve it because you’re looking at small parts of it. So a forest is made up of a lot of trees. So if you say, ‘I can’t see the forest because there’s a tree in the way,’ you are looking at the forest but you’re concentrating too hard on the tree.
45. Don’t spit in the wind
Meaning: don’t put the effort into something that is not worth the time
Explanation
Here is a really kind of gross English saying. It’s, ‘Don’t spit in the wind,’ or, ‘Don’t spit into the wind.’ These mean the same thing.
Now if you spit literally into the wind, it would blow back into your face. So that’s just really gross.
If you do something with little chance of succeeding or really no point in doing it, it’s like spinning in the wind. It just comes back to you. There’s no point in doing it.
46. Easier said than done
Meaning: it is easier for other people to talk about something than it is for the person actually doing it
Explanation
A phrase that I say all of the time is, ‘It’s easier said than done.’ If someone gives you advice and it feels like they think it’s going to be easy, you can say, ‘It’s easier said than done.’
For instance, if you have a baby like myself and someone says, ‘Oh, just go rock the baby to sleep and put them down, and then you can sleep at night,’ I can say, ‘That is easier said than done. My baby will wake up and I won’t sleep all night.’
47. Preaching to the choir
Meaning: to speak for or against something to people who already agree with one’s opinions
Explanation
So I think that doing things to positively affect the environment, like recycling or wasting less, is really good. If someone told me that you should recycle, it’s really good for the Earth, I would say, ‘You are preaching to the choir.’ This just means you’re telling someone something that they also believe, that they strongly believe. It’s like you are preaching a religion to someone who already believes in that religion, preaching to the choir.
48. Shooting fish in a barrel
Meaning: describes something as so easy it requires no effort or skill
Explanation
If you want to say that something is very easy, you can say, ‘It’s like fish in a barrel,’ or, ‘Like shooting fish in a barrel.’ A barrel is a small container, so if you were trying to shoot the fish in there, it’d be quite easy.
49. Go hand in hand
Meaning: describes two things that go together perfectly
Explanation
If you want to describe two things that go together really nicely or that make a good pair, you can say, ‘They go hand in hand.’
One might say that Americans and rock and roll go hand in hand, meaning a lot of American people enjoy rock and roll music.
50. Bite the bullet
Meaning: decide to do something difficult or unpleasant that one has been putting off or hesitating over.
Explanation
Finally, when it’s time to do something that you just have been putting off, dreading, and not wanting to do, you can say, ‘It’s time to bite the bullet.’ It’s time to do something painful but it has to be done.
So in the United States in April, we have to pay our taxes. You can say, ‘I really just have to bite the bullet and pay my taxes.’
Conclusion
You guys, we made it through 50 idioms and phrases that I hope you can add to your English vocabulary. I promise you, these were really everyday phrases that you’ll get tons of use out of. Thank you so much for studying with me. (American Idioms and Phrases) I would love if you left me a comment about your favorite phrase that you learned from today’s lesson or some ones that you found really useful when speaking with native speakers.
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