General IELTS preparation tips with a list of idioms 4.
IElTS Transcript ielts preparation tips with a list of idioms 4.
IELTS EXAM PREPARATION USA ielts preparation tips most useful idioms with meanings and examples.
Stand ones ground.
Maintaining your position.
“The other teams offense was incredibly aggressive but our defense stood their ground”.
Carry the torch for.
Having strong feelings for someone who can not be yours.
“Suzan carried a torch for him for years after they broke up”.
Close to home.
A comment which is true and makes you uncomfortable.
“Is close to home my patients lung cancer diagnosis is close to home for me because my uncle recently died of the same thing”
Cut to the quick
hurting someone deeply or offending them I can’t even look at her right now that hurtful remark cut me right to the quick
Cook up something
failing to express your emotions
she did not let her grief pour out when
her father passed away it’s not good for her to cook up her feelings.
Bee ones bonnet
carrying an idea which constantly occupies your thoughts
it seems that Mike still has a bee in his bonnet over the criticism he got in the staff meeting
Fish out of water
feeling uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings
Marie was like a fish out of water when she assumed a manager position at the company where she had worked as a clerk for so long.
Reduced to tears
getting into tears because of someone’s behavior
he scolded her so much that she was reduced to tears by the end of the meeting
In the bag
refers to a situation when you assure that success is sure
don’t start to think we’ve got this game in the bag gentlemen I’ve seen teams make bigger comebacks than this so we can’t let up.
Blow up in face.
refers to a situation when a plan or project suddenly fails
Mike was trying to sabotage my campaign but the plan blew up in his face when I overheard him talking about it.
Cut one’s own throat
doing something that will cause your ownfailure
you cut your own throat when you told
him to leave how are you going to manage alone.
Cook someone’s goose (ielts preparation tips)
spoil other person’s chances of succes
she thinks he’ll get away with stealing my idea but I’m going to cook his goose
Come up roses.
successful end results even though there may be some initial hiccups
it looked like the negotiations might break down as any stage but everything came up roses in the end.
Chance ones arm
deciding to do something even though the chances of Success are very little.
I think he’s chanting his anti-dumping his life savings into yet another bizarre money-making scheme
Keg not worth the candle
refers to something in which result versus efforts are two lessPatricia worked very hard to organizethe party but very few guests walked inthe cake wasn’t worth the candlebottom fell outrefers to a situation when a plan orproject failsthe bottom fell out of the market and Ilost a lot of moneyplace in the Sunfinding a place in the Sun refers to aposition which provides you all thesuccess and happiness you want in yourlifeyour place in the Sun will be assuredwhen you win this match so please doyour bestsink or swimfail or succeedin such a competitive business it’salways sink or swim for new companieslooking to enter the marketchampagne on a beer budgetwanting expensive things that you cannotaffordmy best friend always buys things out ofher budget she has developed a taste forchampagne on beer budgettop dogvery successful group company personcountry etcyou’ll only get a truthful answer if youmanage to talk to one of the top dogskeep up appearancesmaintaining an outward show ofprosperity or well-being while hidingyour difficultiesshe tried very hard to keep upappearances as she fell further andfurther into credit-card debtwooden spoonimaginary prize for the last person in aracemy friends won a wooden spoon at theFashion Showhave the world by its tailvery successful person who can choosefrom a lot of opportunitiesSamantha landed her dream job afterfinishing at the top of her class incollege she has the world by the taillive beyond meansspending more money than you can affordthey’ve been living beyond their meansfor some time now but they’re too proudto move out of the giant house or giveup their expensive carslive in an ivory towerliving a lifestyle that saves you fromthe real-world problemsif you didn’t spend so much time in yourivory tower you’d know what peoplereally think