Essential English Idioms: Emotions, Life & Money
Expressing Emotions: Idioms and Metaphors
To be over the moon: Meaning: Very pleased, extremely happy. Example: My younger brother was over the moon when he got a new bike for his birthday.
To have a whale of a time: Meaning: To enjoy oneself very much. Example: The kids had never been to the beach before – they had a whale of a time splashing in the sea.
To get under someone’s skin: Meaning: To annoy someone a lot. Example: Harry is always complaining and criticizing; he really gets under my skin sometimes.
To drive someone up the wall: Meaning: To make someone very angry. Example: Our neighbors make so much noise – it drives me up the wall when they play loud music.
To be over the top: Meaning: Very extreme, unsuitable, or uncontrolled. Example: I just said I didn’t like his trainers, and he started shouting at me! It was a bit over the top, really.
To be out of order: Meaning: If something someone says or does is out of order, it is unpleasant or not suitable and is likely to upset or offend people. Example: He came around for dinner at my house with my parents and started swearing! I mean, he was really out of order.
To be taken aback: Meaning: Very shocked or surprised. Example: When the teacher said my poem was excellent, I was really taken aback—she hated all my other poems!
To be dead on your feet: Meaning: Extremely tired. Example: We have been walking around town for 3 hours now! I’m dead on my feet. Let’s go and sit down somewhere.
Life Choices: Key Vocabulary and Phrases
To leave home: Meaning: To stop living at your parents’ home. Example: It’s incredible! He’s 30 and he still hasn’t left home!
To get engaged: Meaning: To formally agree to get married. Example: They got engaged last week. The wedding’s next year.
To get divorced: Meaning: To formally end a marriage. Example: They were only married for a year before they got divorced.
To be at a crossroads: Meaning: To be at a stage in your life when you have to make an important decision. Example: Should I study medicine or join the army? I feel like I’m at a crossroads.
To make a new start: Meaning: To completely change how or where you live. Example: I’m tired of working in an office. I want to make a new start—perhaps I’ll go to university again!
To emigrate: Meaning: To go to live permanently in another country. Example: When my uncle was 19, he couldn’t find any work in England, so he emigrated to Canada.
A mid-life crisis: Meaning: A feeling of unhappiness or disappointment that some people experience at about 40 years old, which can sometimes lead them to make important changes in their life. Example: My dad is really down in the dumps these days. I think he’s having a mid-life crisis.
To be made redundant: Meaning: To lose your job because your employer no longer needs you. Example: When the factory started losing money, my mum was made redundant, along with 50 other people.
To be sacked/fired/dismissed: Meaning: To lose your job, usually for doing something wrong. Example: He was always late; that’s why he was sacked.
Additional Life Choices Terms
Settle down: Meaning: To become familiar with a place and to feel happy and confident in it. Example: She quickly settled down in her new house/job/school.
Take early retirement: Meaning: Stop working before you are 65. Example: He took over his post in January 2006, when his predecessor took early retirement.
Take a year off: Meaning: A period, typically an academic year, taken by a student as a break between school and university or college education. Example: I decided to take a year off from grad school and see the world’s best places.
Pay off a student loan: Meaning: To finish paying it successfully. Example: She finally managed to pay off her loan.
Drop out of school/college/university: Meaning: Leave education before you have completely finished it. Example: He dropped out of college after two years.
Start a family/school/college/university
Change school/college/university
Leave school/college/university
Money Matters: Vocabulary and Idioms
To economize: Meaning: To try to save money by reducing the money you spend. Example: Sorry, no more going out to eat in fancy restaurants—we have to economize.
To tighten (your) belt: Meaning: To spend less money than you did before because you have less money. Example: After I lost my job, I had to tighten my belt a lot; I stopped going to the cinema, for example.
Interest: Meaning: Money you earn from keeping your money in a bank account, or money that a bank charges you for borrowing money. Example: He put his money in a special account, and last year it earned 7% interest.
Income: Meaning: Money that is earned from doing work or from interest. Example: The government has promised to help people on low incomes.
To make ends meet: Meaning: To have just enough money to pay for the things that you need. Example: They don’t earn much money and they have four kids, so it’s difficult to make ends meet.
A (small) fortune: Meaning: A lot of money. Example: I love going to the cinema, but these days it costs a small fortune.
A rip-off (informal): Meaning: Something that is not worth what you pay for it. Example: £300? For a shirt? That’s a complete rip-off.
To rip (somebody) off (informal): Meaning: To cheat someone by making them pay too much money for something. Example: He paid much less for his tickets than I did! I think they ripped me off!
More Financial Terminology
Purchase: To buy (also a noun—something to buy).
Take out a loan: Borrow a sum of money, often from a bank, that has to be paid back.
Earn a living: Do a job to make money to buy the things you need in life.
Economy: A country’s system of trade and industry, by which its wealth is created and used.
Currency: The money that is used in a particular country at a particular time.
Cash card: A special plastic card that you can use to take money out of a bank.
Open an account: To make an arrangement with a bank to keep your money there.
Economic: Relating to trade, industry, and money.
Interest rate: A percentage that a bank charges you when you borrow money, or pays you on savings.
More Ways to Describe Feelings
If you are banging your head against a brick wall, then you feel frustrated.
If you have butterflies in your stomach, you feel nervous.
If you tell someone you are on top of the world, you feel happy.
If you are a bit down in the dumps, you feel depressed.
If something makes your blood boil, you are angry.
If someone has a screw loose, they are a bit mad.
If you don’t know where to put yourself, you are embarrassed.
If you don’t know what has hit you, you are shocked.
If you are really cut up about something, you are disappointed/upset.
If you tell someone to keep their hair on, you want them to keep calm.