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- Burning the Midnight Oil From Both Ends. “I’m so stressed that I’m burning the midnight oil from both ends.” This is a mixup of the two idioms, “burning the midnight oil” and “burning the candle at both ends.”
- Heavy Is the Goose That Lays the Golden Egg. “George just got promoted to management, I hope he’s ready for it. Heavy is the goose that lays the golden egg.”
- Walking a Thin Line. “That decision seems a little risky! He’s walking a thin line.” This malaphor is a combination of “walking on thin ice” and “walking a fine line.”
- I Can Read Him Like the Back of My Book. “He couldn’t hide anything from me. I can read him like the back of my book!” This malaphor mixes up two very common idioms: “know him like the back of my hand” and “read him like a book.”
- Mixed Up
- To Be All Greek to Someone
- Clear as Mud
- To Throw Someone Off/To Be Thrown Off
- To Throw Someone Off Balance/To Be Thrown Off Balance
- To Throw Someone For A Loop/To Be Thrown For A Loop
- To Mess with Someone’S Head
- To Not Be Clear on Something
- To Scratch One’S Head/Head-Scratching
If you are mixed upabout something, it means that you are confused. “Whenever we change the clocks for daylight savings time, I get mixed up and can’t figure out what time it is.” “I’m a little mixed up. Is our meeting on Thursday or Friday?” Mixed up can also mean to think that one person or thing is another person or thing. (MacMillan Dictionary)...
To be all Greek to someoneis an expression we use to explain that someone doesn’t understand anything, usually because the topic is beyond their comprehension. “My roommates are talking about their engineering homework and I can’t understand anything they’re saying. It’s all Greek to me.” “You’ll have to help us understand these accounting document...
If something is clear as mud, it means that it is very confusing and hard to understand. “The assembly instructions that came with this bookshelf are clear as mud. Here, take a look. Can you make any sense out of this?” “Does everyone know how to get to the event tomorrow? How were my directions? Clear as mud?”
If something throws you off, it confuses you or causes you to lose your concentration, get something wrong, or be misled. We can also say that someone is thrown off by something. “Their money laundering scheme is so complicated that it’s been throwing off the authorities for years.” “I get thrown off every time this software updates. Nothing is whe...
To throw someone off balance means to confuse or upset someone for a short time by saying or doing something that they are not expecting. (Cambridge Dictionary) We can also say that someone is thrown off balanceby something. “In high school, there was always that one kid in every class who would ask difficult questions to try to throw the teacher o...
To throw someone for a loop means to cause someone to be very amazed, confused, or shocked. (Merriam Webster) “Mike spent his whole life talking about how he wanted to be a doctor, so we were thrown for a loop when he dropped out of med school.” “It always throws me for a loop when I hear British actors speaking with an American accent on screen.”
To mess with someone’s headmeans to cause someone to feel confused, frustrated, upset, or anxious. “Have you ever see the move Inception? It really messes with your head. I still can’t figure out what happened.” “When I was in elementary school and middle school, I loved math. Then I took algebra in high school, and all the variables and equations ...
If you are not clear on something, it means that you don’t fully understand something. “After Obamacare passed in the United States, not everyone was clear on how the new laws would affect them.” “It’s hard to do an effective job when we’re not clear on what our job functions are. Management needs to do a better job communicating our objectives to ...
To scratch one’s head means to think hard about something or to have difficulty understanding something. (Cambridge Dictionary) We can also use head-scratchingas both an adjective and noun to talk about something that is confusing. “All the plot twists in the TV show left viewers scratching their heads.” “He wasn’t the best coach, and fans will rem...
- To Mix (Something) Up or To Be Mixed Up. We say that a person mixed something up when they confuse something for something else. “I am sorry, I mixed up the drinks.
- To Throw Someone For A Loop. To throw someone for a loop means to confuse them. For example, perhaps they ask you a question, but your answer doesn’t answer their question.
- To Scratch One’s Head About Something. To scratch one’s head about something means that a person is puzzled or confused about something to the point that they might be literally scratching their head trying to think of a solution.
- To Be At One’s Wit’s End. To be at one’s wit’s end means that one is completely puzzled or perplexed. They have exhausted all of their mental resources trying to figure out a solution.
- A blessing in disguise. Meaning: Something that seems bad or unlucky at first but turns out to be good. Example: Losing that job was a blessing in disguise because it pushed me to start my own business.
- A dime a dozen. Meaning: Very common and easy to find. Example: Those souvenir keychains are a dime a dozen at the tourist shops.
- All ears. Meaning: Fully listening and paying attention. Example: Go ahead, I’m all ears. Tell me what’s been on your mind.
- All in the same boat. Meaning: In the same situation or predicament. Example: Everybody on staff got a pay cut – we’re all in the same boat.
Aug 2, 2024 · A malaphor is an informal term for a mixture of two aphorisms, idioms, or clichés (such as, "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it"). It is also called an idiom blend.
- Richard Nordquist
Oct 8, 2024 · Idioms are phrases or expressions that convey a figurative meaning that differs from the literal meaning of the words used. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines an idiom as “a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words.”
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List of 100+ Common Idioms, Their Meanings and Examples of Their Usage in Sentences. To make your learning process a lot easier, here is a table with the most common idioms in the English language along with their meanings for your reference.
