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Common English Idioms and their Meanings

Idioms (idiomatic expressions) are often difficult for learners of English. Their meanings are usually very different from those of the individual words, and are often dependent on the cultures in which they were created.

The Idiom Buster presents a series of 20 common English idioms and their meanings and then tests your knowledge of them with a fun interactive quiz.

To improve your learning even more, try to make sentences showing the meaning of each idiom, eg: I didn't know Ted's party was supposed to be a surprise, so I let the cat the out of the bag.

List all idioms

Run Idiom Buster with fixed sets of idioms: Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3

Essential Idioms in English: Phrasal Verbs and Collocations. From catching a cold to landing on your feet, idiomatic expressions add color and style to the English language. The latest edition of Essential Idioms in English remains the resource of choice for mastering more than 500 common English idioms, phrasal verbs, and collocations. Essential Idioms in English thoroughly defines and illustrates each idiom, then reinforces its meaning and usage with multiple-choice, true-false, fill-in-the-blank, and matching exercises.

Ultimate Phrasal Verb Book. Updated to reflect questions found on various recent ESL tests, this book presents 400 common phrasal verbs as they are used in everyday English. Phrasal verbs are verbs combined with prepositions or adverbs. Becoming familiar with phrasal verbs and understanding how they are commonly used as nouns (for example, breakup and show-off), or as adjectives (spaced-out, broken-down, stressed-out and many others) is essential to speaking and understanding modern English. Students preparing for the TOEFL or other ESL exams will find this book's many examples and exercises especially helpful.