21 Essential English Idioms To Sound Like a Native Speaker
Learning English idioms is an essential part of taking your English to the next level. If you already know about 200 words in English, your next step is to expand your English vocabulary with things like idioms and slang while practicing conversational English with a native English teacher.This approach will allow you to quickly get from an intermediate level of English fluency to an advanced level.
So why is learning English idioms an important aspect of learning English? Firstly, learning idioms will improve your English comprehension making it easy for you to understand what native English speakers are saying. For example, a native English speaker might say “Get off your high horse, you are making everyone else uncomfortable”. If you have an knowledge of idioms, you will learn that this expressions has nothing to do with an actual horse but is a way of asking someone not to be arrogant or superior.
Further, idioms are a lovely gateway to learning more about culture. A lot of American idioms come from popular American sports such as baseball and football. Examples are idioms like “playing quarterback” or “hitting it out of the park” or “a home-run”. Also, there are a lot of idioms are have originated from food. Some examples are “easy as pie” or “to go banana’s” .
So let’s get started in today’s essential idiom list. These are 21 of the most commonly used idioms that every intermediate student should learn:
Get Going
The boy’s teasing always get’s grandma going
gets grandma angry
Sight for sore eyes
After a long day of walking, the fresh tea was a sight for our sore eyes
a pleasant sight; a welcome sight
Flat-footed
The quiz caught Jane flat-footed as she had not studied anything
not prepared
Sidekick
When ever you saw Phil, you would also see his faithful sidekick Tim walking with him
Close friend of lesser status
Get Even
Phil was furious about what Carl did and he said he will get even after Christmas
to take revenge; do something to hurt someone
Flip Out
It is impossible to talk to Henry today. He must have flipped out.
To go crazy; to go out of one’s mind
Shrug off
The comedian shrugged off the booing fans and continued with the show.
Act as if you are not interested; act as if you did not care
Get Around To
I plan to get around to cleaning my desk this weekend
to find time to do something that has been getting postponed for a while
Sick and Tired
Wei was sick and tired of studying grammar everyday but not been able to speak fluently in English
Dislike; getting frustrated
Flesh Out
The singer fleshed out his idea to the producer by playing some notes on the piano
Add more detail; to expand; to make bigger
Over With
After studying for 6 months, Prateek was happy to get over with the IELTS
Finish; To end
Shy Away
The organizers shied away from the reporter’s questions
Avoid; seemed frightened
Out of Whack
Ben felt the whole band was out of whack because the bass player was not playing well
Not working right
Leave a bad taste in one’s mouth
Her rudeness to the babysitter left a bad taste in my mouth
a bad impression; make you feel disgusted
Hot Air
That was just a lot of hot air what Alan said
Nonsense; exaggerated talk
Can of worms
The police knew that opening the case would open up a huge can of worms
many new problems
Get off one’s high horse
I wish John would get off his high horse for once and worked better with the team
Be humble; be less arrogant
Hot Number
My mom’s new lemonade recipe was a hot number at the fair
Popular; got a lot of attention
