English
Idioms & Phrases Guide & Practice
Learn commonly asked idioms and phrases with meanings, usage in sentences, and practice free mock tests for SSC CGL/CHSL exams. Explore dynamic solver blueprints, master fundamental equations, examine step-by-step solved examples, and practice with real exam-grade mock test sets.
Practice Question Papers
1. Fundamentals & Definitions
An idiom is an expression or phrase whose figurative meaning cannot be understood from the literal definition of its individual words. Since their meanings are figurative and context-dependent, idioms are a crucial area of English grammar testing in competitive exams like SSC.
Key Definitions & Concepts
- Idiom: A fixed expression with a non-literal meaning (e.g., A chip off the old block refers to someone resembling their parent in character/appearance).
- Phrase: A sequence of two or more words that does not contain a finite verb and does not express a complete thought.
- Phrasal Verb: An idiomatic phrase consisting of a verb and another element (typically an adverb or a preposition, e.g., Abide by or Account for).
- Metaphors in Idioms: Many idioms use metaphors to represent situations or qualities (e.g., Bury the hatchet means to make peace).
2. Core Concepts & Formulas
Idioms do not follow algebraic formulas, but their usage in exams is governed by strict linguistic rules:
Syntactic and Usage Rules
- Fixed Word Order: Idiomatic structures cannot be rearranged grammatically. For instance, under the thumb cannot be written as the thumb under.
- Prepositional Selectivity: Idiomatic phrasal verbs require specific prepositions to maintain their meanings. For example, abide by cannot be written as abide with in the context of rules.
- Contextual Alignment: When filling blanks or correcting errors, the chosen idiom must align semantically with the rest of the sentence (e.g., set his teeth on edge requires an irritating stimulus).
Idioms & Phrases Directory
| Idiom | Meaning | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| A chip off the old block | someone who resembles their parent in character or appearance | Meher has a very little patience-a chip off the old block. |
| A mare's nest | a complex or confused situation; a muddle , an illusory discovery | The involvement of teachers in the scheme of education proves to be a mare's nest |
| Abide by | To act in accordance with; to comply with or obey a rule or law | In a democracy, one has to abide by the law. |
| Account for | To explain the reason for something; to answer for one's conduct | The student had to account for his lengthy absence from school. |
| Add fuel to the fire | worsen an already bad situation / To aggravate the situation | His sharp ripostes and supercilious manner added fuel to the fire. |
| At the eleventh hour | At the last possible moment or opportunity / At the last moment | Millions of companies in India are still not ready to file their first returns under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) ahead of an Aug. 20 deadline, a top official told Reuters, urging them not to leave things to the eleventh hour |
| Back to drawing board | Revising something (such as a plan) from the beginning, typically after it has failed / Revising something from the beginning, typically after it has failed | Having triggered an avalanche of litigation across the country, the prevention of Cruelty to animal (regulation of livestock market) rules of 2017, which ban the sale of cattle in livestock markets for the purpose of slaughter or animal sacrifice, is now back to the drawing board. |
| Blessing in disguise | Something good and useful that did not initially seem that way / an apparent misfortune that eventually has good results | Losing that job was a blessing in disguise really. |
| Bow out | to leave a job or stop doing an activity, usually after a long time: / withdraw or retire from an activity or role | India top mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy, also seeded 15th, defeated Indo-Malaysian combo of Prajakta Sawant and Yogendran Khrishnan 21-12, 21-19. However, in the other mixed doubles matches, B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and K. Maneesha suffered contrasting losses to bow out. |
| Bring / Ring The Curtain Down | To bring something to an end; to declare something to be at an end / to bring something to an end; to declare something to be at an end | Caeleb Dressel brought the curtain down on the World championships with a historic seventh medal here on Sunday, equaling the record of swim legend Michael Phelps. |
| Buck the odds | To buck the odds means to go against the odds. Despite the odds not being in your favour, you still won | Given the manner she has been bucking the odds, nothing seems impossible for the brave Jyotika far far away from the glitz-laden metros. |
| Bury the hatchet | end a quarrel or conflict and become friendly / End the quarrel and make peace / to reconcile and make peace | The two business rivals decided to bury the hatchet. |
| Chalk out | to explain something carefully to someone, as if one were talking about a chalk drawing | Directing status quo in the matter till August 22, which is also the next date of hearing, the apex court ordered the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the State government to chalk out a balancing plan, one by which both students who have got through NEET and rural students ill-equipped for NEET can be "adjusted" in the medical admission list. |
| Chips in | to add something to someone else's conversation , To contribute to something being undertaken by a group, such as a task or collection | Athisyaraj chips in with a four wicket haul as the side eases past super gillies |
| Claw back | to get something again that you had lost such as power, especially gradually and with difficulty | Schwartzman claws back from the brink |
| Clear up | To explain, solve, or make something clear; to tidy up; to brighten (of weather) | The prosecuting attorney has cleared up the case and there is no doubt in anyone's mind. |
| Close on the heels | happening soon after another event, following close behind someone or something | Her remarks came hard on the heels of a statement by the President. |
| Cross the line | to change from being acceptable to being unacceptable, to do something wrong | Chasing a target of 224, India-A took 62.3 overs to cross the line as Karun got rid of his wretched form, hitting 13 boundaries in 144 balls. |
| Cry Down | to belittle; disparage, to silence by making a greater noise / To make little of | Men of dissolute lives cry down religion because they would not be under the restraints |
| Damper on | something that restrains or depresses an embarrassing situation | The rains put a damper on our plans to go for an outing. The national team's defeat to a lowly ranked team left |
| Decked up | put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and attractive | When the consultation began in the evening, the mausoleum of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on the Marina was decked up with flowers |
| Dig in | to prepare yourself for a difficult situation | Both sides are digging in for a long and bitter dispute. |
| Dished out | to give something too freely and in large amounts, to give out trouble, scoldings, criticism | The 23-year old from Gujarat, a certainty in India's limited-over squads, secured a berth in Tests during the current tour of Sri Lanka. At Galle and in Colombo, Pandya dished out quickfire knocks (50 and 20) and had bowling figures of 1/13, 0/21 and 2/31. |
| Draw level | to move into a position where you are equal to someone else in a race, game, or competition | Bronze in the 400m proved to be a bittersweet consolation for US track legend Allyson Felix as she drew level with Jamaicans Merlene Ottey and Usain Bolt on having won 14 World Championships medals. |
| Drew first blood | the initial advantage gained by one side in any game, contest or competition | Tamil Thalaivas drew first blood in the first minute as Prapanjan scored with a raid point |
| Eaten away | corroded or worn away | Acid has eaten away at the iron bars. |
| Edge out | to beat someone in something such as a competition or election by a small amount | Earlier , Jaipur Pink Panthers edged out Puneri Paltan( pune) |
| Egg on one's face | caused by saying or doing something foolish | the coach with egg on his face. |
| Eked out | to make (a supply) last, to add to (something insufficient), esp with effort | GM Harika eked out a draw against GM Stupak Kirill from Belarus Many workers can only eke out their redundancy money for about 10 weeks. |
| Every cloud has a silver lining | Adverse conditions do not last forever / Good things come after bad things | 'It seems that if you're big, rich and powerful enough, every cloud has a silver lining.' |
| Every dog has his day | Sooner or later, everyone has his share of good fortun e / Sooner or later, everyone has his share of good fortune | |
| Fallen out | to part ways in an acrimonious manner | The media highlighted the fact that the President and the Prime Minister have fallen out |
| Fend off | prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; | The spotlight, though, was on the 36-year-old Dhoni, who now has to fend off questions about his future with alarming regularity. |
| Fired up | to motivate someone; to make someone enthusiastic | I was so fired up with a nationalistic fervour that I whipped out my smartphone and took a video of myself taking the 'Sankalp se Siddhi' (achievement through resolve) pledge. |
| Fit (or fill) the bill | be suitable for a particular purpose | It is never easy to step into the shoes of a genuine all-rounder like Kapil or exude the multi-faceted dimensions that were intrinsic to Dhoni but Kohli & Co. are hoping that Pandya will somehow fit the bill. |
| Fix on (fix upon) | To choose or decide on something or someone | The Commissioner fixed upon the courageous police inspector to be the next encounter specialist. |
| Fly off on a tangent | to start talking about an unrelated topic | Jack's habit of flying off on a tangent made his teacher furious. |
| Gain ground | to become more successful, popular, or accepted / Become Popular | Having brought up the rear in the 10 player event, Anand and kasporav will be keen to gain ground when the action shifts to 18 round blitz. |
| Gearing up | to prepare yourself, or to prepare something for an activity or event | With the home-stretch in sight, the leading contenders headed by Swapnil Dhopade are gearing up for a powerful finish in the National Challengers chess championship here. |
| Go Down | to be believed; to decrease or descend; to be defeated / To be accepted | The salacious story in the tabloid won't go down well with the readers. |
| Go into | To investigate, examine, or discuss something in detail | The government promised to go into the cause of the riots. |
| Go through | To experience a difficult situation; to examine or read something; to use up | The Iraqi people have gone through much over the past decade. |
| Golden handshake | A large sum of money given to an employee (especially a manager) when they retire or leave a company | The managing director opted to retire and was awarded a golden handshake. |
| Hand in glove (hand and glove) | In close association, collaboration, or collusion (often for a dishonest purpose) | The lawyers were hand in glove with the police. |
| Hang up | To disconnect a phone call, o give up on someone or something; to quit dealing with someone or something | Usain Bolt insists he will hang up his running spike after the world championships in London. |
| Hinge on | to be determined or decided by (something): to depend on (something) | Roelant Oltmans' continuation as the hockey head coach hinges on the clarity and quality of his plans for India's hectic season ahead |
| Hinged on | to depend on someone or something; to depend on what someone or something does | The Monetary Policy Committee's majority decision hinged on the observation that some "upside risks to inflation have either reduced or not materialized " |
| Lays down | to state officially what someone must do or how they must do it, to give up, establish | The EU has laid down tough standards for water quality |
| Leave no stone unturned | to do everything possible in order to achieve or find something / Use all available means | Ahead of its return to the IPL in 2018, Chennai Super Kings is leaving no stone unturned to get its campaign back on the track. One of the key reasons for its success in the first eight years was that the team managed to retain a core group of players and the support staff. |
| Live something down | to make people forget that you made a big mistake or did something very embarrassing in the past: | Having mishandled NEET is one failure that the Tamilnadu government will struggle to live down |
| Lose ground | to fall behind someone or something , become less successful / to fall behind someone or something, become less successful | Equity benchmark indices lost ground for the fifth consecutive day on Friday as weak domestic corporate numbers along with global negativity on account of geopolitical tensions dampened investor sentiment |
| Make The Cut | To survive an elimination when a team or group is being chosen | By his own admission, Jeev Mikha Singh has not had a great 2017, h e has made the cut only four times from 13 appearances on the Asian and European Tours, his best finish a tied 22nd at the jointly-sanctioned ISPS Handa World Super 6 in Perth in February. |
| Map out | To plan or layout in detail how something will be done | He wants to rest and map out a new challenge. |
| Mended His Ways | to improve your behaviour after you have been behaving badly for a long time | : Appearing before a Bench led by Justice Dipak Mishra, Attorney General K.K.Venugopal highlighted that Mr.khan had not mended his ways even after rendering an apology to the supreme court and was recently booked for sedition for allegedly making statements against the army. |
| Miss the cut | (golf)to achieve a greater score after the first two rounds of a strokeplay tournament than that required to play in the remaining two rounds | He arrives here after having missed the cut at the Irish and scottish opens , but then he was in similarly wretched form before the secured the Indian open in March |
| Mow someone or something down | to violently cause someone or something to fall | The car skidded along the side of the road and mowed down several mailboxes before coming to a stop |
| Music to the ears | a welcome sound to someone; news that someone is pleased to hear | The winter session of 2016 hit a low point of 16%.It is shameful.Taxation bills, as significant as Aadhaar , were passed within two weeks without being referred toa commitmee' he said. The reference to the 'hurried' passage of Aadhaar, however ,may not be music to the government's ears. |
| Narrowing down | to reduce the number of possibilities or choices | In this case, for the first time, we were able to identify some key papers and documents. we also spoke to the banks, gathered CCTV footage and collected bank officials statements before narrowing down on the person |
| Needle in a haystack | something that is very difficult or even impossible to locate | |
| Nip in the bud | Destroy in the early stage | |
| No love lost | dislike for each other, animosity | There is no love lost between the English and Pakistani cricket teams. |
| Not a spark of decency | No Manners This expression is used when the person you have just been talking | |
| Notched up | to win something, or to achieve something | Jones, who notched up 3631 runs in 52 Tests at 46.55, said "A couple of law firms approached me later for suing Cricket Australia for 'dismissal from service. |
| Off the hook | no longer in difficulty or trouble | Pinarayi vijaiyan off the hook in SNC- lavalin case(a Canadian company) |
| On a knife's edge | if a person or organization is on a knife-edge, they are in a difficult situation and are worried about what will happen in the future | She's been living on a knife-edge since her ex-husband was released from prison last month. The theatre is on a financial knife-edge and must sell 75% of its seats every night to survive. |
| On one's mind | in one's thoughts all the time | The young man has car racing on his mind. |
| On the carpet | reprimand for one's actions before a superior authority | the young soldier for flouting all norms. |
| On the run | If someone is on the run, they are trying to escape or hide from someone such as the police or an enemy / trying to avoid being captured | A third woman came forward on Tuesday to accuse Roman Polanski of sexual assault when she was a minor, four decades after he went on the run for raping another girl |
| Out of the question | unthinkable / Impossible | Granting leave to employees at this time of the year is out of the question. |
| Pale shadow | Less impressive or not as good as before or when compared with someone or something similar | Yet, there is no denying that the former skipper has looked a pale shadow of his past glorious self on many occasions, the last of which was in the West Indies recently, when he scored a painful 54 off 114 in the fourth ODI at Antigua, again as India lost the game by 11 runs. |
| Picking holes | to find mistakes in something someone has done or said, to show that it is not good or not correct | He is always picking holes in every project |
| Plough into someone/something | to crash into someone or something with force, especially because you are moving or driving too quickly or in a careless or uncontrolled way | On Thursday afternoon, Oukabir and his associates drove a van along Barcelona's crowded Las Ramblas thoroughfare, ploughing into tourists leaving 13 dead and more than 100 injured. |
| Pull through | get through an illness or other dangerous or difficult situation / get over with some difficulty; survive | Second seed Harinder Pal was in a lot of trouble after a sluggish start against Aditya Jagtap, but regained the surety of his touch to pull through in four games. |
| Pumped up | to fill with enthusiasm or excitement , to fill with or as if with air / to fill with enthusiasm or excitement, to fill with or as if with air | "I like the fast court. I am pretty happy and pumped up to play the semifinal," said Kush. |
| Put off | an evasive reply , to delay doing something, especially because you do not want to do it / an evasive reply, to delay doing something, especially because you do not want to do it / to postpone or defer | The "strong stand" taken by leaders, including former Minister K.P. Munusamy, was said to have prompted Mr. Panneerselvam to put off a decision on the merger. Mr. Munusamy was not available for comment |
| Quick on the uptake | able to understand things readily and without difficulty | |
| Raise the bar | to make a task a little more difficult, To raise the standards of quality that are expected of or required for something | Now free and confident Anna after winning maiden Asian 400 m gold at Bhubaneshwar, Ana could raise the bar in London |
| Ring in | (ring in something), to ring bells to celebrate something, especially the new year | Janamastmi was rung in with religious fervor in Maharastra on Tuesday. |
| Rip up | to tear something into small pieces, o decide that something such as a plan or an agreement is useless and stop using it | Felix's unheralded team-mate Phyllis Francis ripped up the form book to claim a shock gold, with Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser taking silver |
| Run into | into; to meet without planning to disparage or mock; to / collide with, reach a level | Fourth seed Sindhu could face Hong Kong's Ngan Yi Cheung, seeded 13, for a place in the quarterfinals where she could run into fifth seed Sun Yu. |
| Run over | to hit someone or something with a vehicle and drive over them, to practise what you are going to say in a speech, performance etc | Senior Railway Ministry officials told that welding work was underway near the Khatauli railway station in Uttar Pradesh, leaving a portion of the track without rails when the Utkal Express ran over it and derailed, as per the prima facie investigation |
| Run up | to raise or hoist something, such as a flag , to cause something to go higher, such as the price of stocks or commodities / grown or increased; incur | : In the Run up to the implementation of GST , we did expect many challenges including an impact on trade pipeline inventory |
| Scrape through | to move through something, scraping or rubbing the sides, to get by something just barely; to pass a test just barely | The car, going at a very high speed, scraped through the tunnel. It just managed to scrape through Alice passed the test, but she just scraped through it. I just scraped through my calculus test. |
| Set down | to consider something in a particular way, o write something on a piece of paper so that it will not be forgotten and can be looked at later | It's often a lot of work to set your thoughts down on paper. |
| Shunted Out | to move (someone or something) to a different and usually less important or noticeable place or position | Daniel Ricciardo blasted Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen for 'amateur' diving on Sunday after the Dutch teenager shunted him out of the Hungarian GP on the opening lap. |
| Shut out | to not allow someone to enter a particular place, if you shut something out, you stop yourself from seeing it, hearing it, or thinking about it | The lanky Wahington's Blitzkrieg shut out the opposition.To the super gillie's attack, he must have seemed a force of nature.Washington blasted paceman for three successive sixes in the opening over to set the tone – an imperious hit over the off side field the best among them |
| Strikes a blow | to do something to help or to support an idea, movement, or group , to do something to harm or oppose an idea, movement, or group | The supreme court judgment strikes a blow on the unbridled encroachment and surveillance by the state and its agencies in the life of the common man |
| Sweat something out | to anxiously wait for something , to get rid of something in one's body by sweating / to anxiously wait for something, to get rid of something in one's body by sweating | With team selection imminent, Dhoni and Suresh Raina, who last played an ODI for India in October 2015, sweated it out on Friday. sent in my application and now I have to sweat out the two months until I get an answer. |
| Tees off | to start the first hole in a game of golf, to begin [doing anything]; to be the first one to start something, (to tee someone off ) | Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy make their bids for golfing history when the 99th PGA Championship tees off Thursday at Quail Hollow with heavy rain and storms forecast. |
| To go at each other hammer and tongs | To do something or perform some task with tremendous fervor, determination, energy, or forcefulness. , to do something, especially to argue, with a lot of energy or violence | What started as a minor disagreement has escalated into a heated argument, and the two have been going at it hammer and tongs ever since |
| To move heaven and earth | to make a supreme and superhuman effort / To make a supreme effort / To exert all efforts | He moved heaven and earth to be able to attend his friend's marriage. |
| To pigeon hole | to decide that someone or something belongs to a particular type or group, especially without knowing much about them | Pandya is in an unenviable position, his role is one into which previous managements tried to pigeon-hole Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan and more recently Stuart Binny |
| Trampling on | to crush someone or something underfoot, To tread heavily or destructively on something | The children trampled on the flowers |
| Turn up/on the heat | to use force to persuade someone to do something; to increase the pressure on someone to do something | Management is turning the heat up to increase production. The teacher really turned up the heat on the students by saying that everyone would be punished if the real culprit was not found. |
| Under a cloud | under suspicion | |
| Under fire | being criticized | Under fire for the deaths of more than 100 children in the BRD Medical College hospital, Mr. Adityanath launched a week-long cleanliness drive in UP — Swachh Uttar Pradesh, Swaasth Uttar Pradesh |
| Under his thumb | Under his control | |
| Up to date | Recent | |
| Vote with ones feet | to demonstrate a lack of support for something by departing | |
| Walk All Over Someone | to treat someone badly by always making them do what you want them to do | If you don't want to work at the weekend, say so - don't let the boss walk all over you. |
| Wash out | to fail and be removed from something such as school, to rain on or flood an event so that it must be cancelled | I studied all I could, but I still washed out. |
| Whisked away | To escort, conduct, or carry someone or something swiftly and quietly away | The bodyguards whisked away the politician after the speech. |
| Wiped out | to kill someone , a decisive defeat , to clean completely by wiping: | Malawi on Thursday celebrated successful conclusion of a two year project moving 520 sedated elephants by truck to a reserve where the animals had been nearly wiped out They wiped him out to keep him from testifying. |
| Won laurels | to make a name; distinguish oneself in | The failed actress went on to win laurels as a bestselling author. |
| Wriggle out | to free oneself from something by turning or twisting the body with sinuous writhing motions | With 13 points, Chaudhari was the best raider in action and his ability to wriggle out of tough situations played a big role in his team's victory |
| Yellow press | and unscrupulous stories and exaggerates the news to attract readers / exaggerate the news to attract readers | |
| Your guess is as good as mine | To have no idea about anything | |
| Zero in on | to direct all your attention to one thing , If you zero in a weapon, you aim it directly at something you want to hit: | 'This was not the first time . he had come to meet his wife on two occasions earlier, and he followed the same pattern and time .It was easy for the police to zero in on him.' Said the official. |
| Zero in on something | Focus all attention on one thing |
Typical Exam Weightage
| Exam | Typical Questions |
|---|---|
| SSC (CGL / CHSL / MTS) | 1–2 questions |
A pure vocabulary-recall topic — there is no shortcut technique, only breadth of exposure to commonly tested idioms.
Figures are typical ranges based on recent-year patterns, not a guarantee for any specific upcoming paper — always cross-check against the latest official syllabus and previous-year papers for Idioms & Phrases.
Solved Examples
1Example 1 (Easy)
Question: Choose the option that is closest in meaning to the highlighted idiom:
The politician is in hot water after that speech. (a) The politician is being praised for his speech. (b) The politician is in trouble for his speech. (c) The politician took a hot bath after the speech. (d) The politician was too verbose in his speech.
2Example 2 (Moderate)
Question: Fill in the blank with the appropriate idiom/phrase:
She is ___________ of her son. (a) in the teeth of (b) at daggers drawn (c) of yeoman service (d) under the thumb
3Example 3 (Hard)
Question: Choose the sentence(s) in which the idiom has been used correctly: (a) The loud screeching noise set his teeth on edge. (b) He was voted to power in the teeth of the year. (c) Many doctors render yeoman service in the villages. (d) One should not thrust one’s nose in one’s affairs.
- (a) and (c)
- (b), (c) and (d)
- (b) and (d)
- (a), (c) and (d)