C2 - idioms & phrases

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List of 500 Idioms and Phrases (pdf/xls) | C2 Proficient (CPE) | engxam.com

a bear with a sore head

irritated / bad mood

a bit of a dark horse

person with hidden abilities

a bitter pill to swallow

a difficult fact to accept

a different kettle of fish

a different situation from the one just mentioned

a dog’s life

a difficult, hard life

a fish out of water

sb who feels uncomfortable

a long shot

a wing guess / a risk

a memory like a sieve (tamiz,criba)

a poor memory

a night owl

person who enjoys staying up late

a pain in the neck/ass

annoying person/thing

a piece of cake

sth very easy to do

a red rag to a bull

action/comment/sth liable to provoke sb

a red-letter day

a very important day

a sitting duck

an easy target

a wild-goose chase

a hopeless search

above board

honest

Achilles heel

weakest point of sb’s character

against all odds

despite the difficulties

agree to desagree

stop arguing because there is no chance of agreement

all along

from the beginning until now

all but

nearly all, almost all

all in all

considering everything

all the same

yet, however

all told

altogether, in total

al old wives’ tale

false belief

an unknown quantity

person or thing that has no experience of ???

as a last resort

when all else has failed

as the crow flies

in a direct line / by a direct route

at close quarters

from a short distancea

at large

free, not caught

at the cutting edge

at the forefront of

bark up the wrong tree

have a false idea about sth

be ahead of one’s time

have modern ideas

be all at sea

be in a state of confusion

be all fingers and thumbs

be clumsy, awkward

be all very well

appear satisfactoey but in fact not be

be as busy as a bee

be very busy

be as thick as a brick

be stupid

be beside oneself with anger

be extremely angry

be born yesterday

be easily deceived/naive

be broke

have no / very little money

be caught red-handed

be caught while comitting a crime

be dyi

be fit for sth

be good enough for sth

be for the high jump

about to be punished

be full of beans

be very lively, energetic, enthusiastic

be green

be inexperienced

be in a quandary

be confused, undecided

be in sb’s black books

out of favour

be in sb’s shoes

be in sb’s position

be in the darks about sth

be unaware of sth

be in the doghouse

be out of favour, in trouble

be in the know

be well-informed

be in the same boat

be in the same (usually bad) situation

be in two minds about sth

not able to decide what to do

be on the cards

be likely to happen

be on the defensive

protect oneself because one feels insecure or threatened

be on the up and up

improve steadily

be out of practice

lacking practice

be over the moon

be elated, chuffed, inmensely happy

be second to none

be the best

to be sound asleep

to sleep deeply

be the apple of sb’s eyes

be very precious to sb’s, be sb’s favourite

be the perfect image of sb

look exactly like sb

be the splitting image of sb

look exactly like sb

be thrown off balance

be surprised

be tickled pink

be chuffed, really pleased

be up and about

have recovered from an illness

be up in arms

be very angry

be worn out

be very tired

be/get soaked to the skin

be/get very wet

be/have a close shave

barely avoid an accident or bad situation

bear fruit

be successful

beat about/around the bush

avoid saying directly what one means

beat sb black and blue

hit sb repeatedly until bruised

before one can say Jack Robinson

extremely quick

beg the questions

makes people want to ask a particular question

behind bars

in prison

behind the scenes

in secret

below the belt

cruel and unfair

bide one’s time

wait for a good opportunity

big cheese

person with an important job/position

big fish

person with money

big-headed

arrogant, conceited, boastful

bite off more than sb can chew

try to do sth which is too difficult

black and blue all over

covered with bruises

black tie

formal clothing

blaze a trail

do sth that’s never been done before, discover sth new

blessing in disguise

sth which appears bad at first but then turns out favourably

blow a fuse

become very angry

blue-eyed boy

a favoured person

bolt from the blue

suddenly

brainwave

sudden clear idea/thought

break even

show neither loss nor profit

break the ice

ease the tension when one first meets people

bring sth home to sb

make sb understand how important or serious sth is

breing to one’s knees

destroy, humble sb

browned off

fed up, bored