Idioms (A-e)

act your age – tell someone to be more serious

• Act your age, Jack! You are behaving like a child.

get your act together – organize yourself in a more effective way

• Get your act together and start getting better grades.

be up in the air – an undecided matter

• I may get a promotion, but it is still up in the air.

all in all – thinking about all of a situation at once

• All in all, my trip was wonderful even though I lost my phone.

bend over backwards – try hard to please someone

• She bent over backwards to do everything he wanted.

get the ball rolling – get an activity started

• We need to get the ball rolling on this project that is due tomorrow.

give the benefit of the doubt – usually believe the good, not bad, about someone

• Jane gave Jack the benefit of the doubt after hearing his explanation.

out of the blue – something that happens suddenly and unexpectedly

• She called me out of the blue.

stand a chance – to have a possibility for success

• The small boxer does not stand a chance of winning the fight.

(not) have a clue – to have no information about something

• When I was young, I didn’t have a clue about living expenses.

lose your cool – get angry

• Jane’s rude remark made Jack lose his cool.

be in the dark – not given any information about an event

• We do not know about the party tomorrow. We are completely in the dark.

scared to death – be very frightened

• I was scared to death walking home alone last night.

down to earth – people or ideas that are practical and work well

• Jack is down to earth; I like his practical approach to problems.

play it by ear – deal with a situation as it happens, rather than planning for it

• I do not know how long we will stay. Let’s just play it by ear.

easier said than done – said when something sounds easy to do, but it really isn’t easy.

• My girlfriend told me to quit smoking, but it’s easier said than done.

(not) be at the end of the world – it will not cause serious problems

• If Jessica doesn’t take my offer for a date, it’s not the end of the world.

make (both) ends meet – have just enough money to pay for necessary things

• I had to work two jobs just to make ends meet.

see eye to eye – two people agree with other

• We don’t see eye to eye on every issue.