Vocabulary Special: Idiom & Phrases

You must be well aware that Vocabulary is part of the English section of any law entrance exam and truly saying, this is one of the easiest topics out of all. So to make sure that you don't miss out on any questions from this topic in the Exam, we are going to discuss the basics of distance & direction in this article.

List of Important Idioms and Phrases

1. Wild goose chase - एक मूर्ख और निराशाजनक खोज

• Meaning: A foolish and Hopeless search
• Example: After two hours spent wandering in the snow, I realized we were on a wild goose chase.

2. Wear one’s heart on one’ sleeves - किसी की भावनाओं को बताना 

• Meaning: To display one’s feeling openly
• Example: Mohan always has his heart on his sleeves so that everyone knows how he feels.

3. With a high hand - अत्याचार

• Meaning: Oppressively
• Example: The teacher handles the naughty students with a high hand.

4. A windfall - अचानक और अप्रत्याशित लाभ

• Meaning: A sudden and unexpected profit
• Example: The money donated by the Minister was really a windfall for the poor.

5. A wet blanket - जो आनंद और उत्साह को हतोत्साहित करता है

• Meaning: Who discourages enjoyment and enthusiasm
• Example: Ram acts as a wet blanket in Sohan's love life.

6. Wrong foot - इस तरह से शुरुवात कि असफल होने की संभावना है

• Meaning: To begin in a way that is likely to fail
• Example: The company was completely wrong-footed by the dollar's sudden recovery.

7. Walking on air - बहुत जादा ख़ुशी 

• Meaning: Extreme happiness
• Example: After cracking the CLAT exam he is walking on air.

8. Willy or nilly - चाहें  या नहीं

• Meaning: Whether one wishes or not
• Example: We have to accept some job willy or nilly.

9. Wag one's chin - बिना मुद्दे के बातें करना 

• Meaning: To talk 
• Example: Ritu and Sandhya haven't seen each other in a while, so they've been wagging their chins all afternoon.

10. Wait and see - रुको और देखो

• Meaning: to wait to see what will occur after. 
• Example: Many investors are taking a wait-and-see approach while there is still uncertainty in the market due to coronavirus outbreaks.

11. Walk of life- व्यवसाय 

• Meaning: an occupation
• Example: Richa has a precious collection of memories from all walks of life.

12. Walk on eggshell- सोच समझकर बात करना 

• Meaning: to be careful about one's words or actions around another person
• Example: Kavita is so sensitive by her nature that all her friends and relatives have to walk on eggshells around her.

13. Break the ice:

• Meaning- To initiate a social conversation or interaction
• Sentence- At the start of the lecture, the new professor tried to break the ice by telling a joke.

14.  Apple of one’s eye:

• Meaning- Being cherished more than others are
• Sentence- Sam is adored by his teacher for his childlike nature. He is the apple of her eye.

15. Golden handshake:

• Meaning- A big sum of money given to a person when he/she leaves a company or retires
• Sentence- The management of the company wanted to decrease their workforce. They offered a golden handshake to their aged employees.

16. Come hell or high water:

• Meaning- Possible obstacles in your path (will not stop you)
• Sentence- I have decided that come to hell or high water I will become an engineer.

17. Piece of cake:

• Meaning- Something that is easy to understand or do
• Sentence- I thought that the problem would be tough, but it turned out to be a piece of cake!

18. Chip on your shoulder:

• Meaning- When someone is upset about something that happened a while ago
• Sentence- He has a chip on his shoulder for being abandoned by his parents in his childhood.

19. Cry over spilt milk:

• Meaning- Complaining about a loss or failure from the past
• Sentence- He was mad because he couldn’t clear the cut-off due to a silly mistake. But, then he realized there was no use crying over spilled milk and decided to become more careful.

20. Once in a blue moon:

• Meaning- Something that happens very rarely
• Sentence-  Once in a blue moon, the blue jay can be seen in these parts of the forest.

21. Bone of contention:

• Meaning- A subject or issue over which there is continuing disagreement
• Sentence- The examination system has long been a serious bone of contention in the HRD Ministry.

22. Eat humble pie:

• Meaning- To apologize humbly
• Sentence- He will have to eat humble pie for the disrespect shown to the Captain.

23. Fool’s paradise:

• Meaning- false sense of happiness or success
• Sentence- They were living in a fool’s paradise, refusing to accept that they were facing poverty.

24. Give cold shoulder:

• Meaning- To ignore
• Sentence- I sent her a message to apologize for my misbehavior, but she gave me the cold shoulder.

25. Get a raw deal:

• Meaning- To not be treated as well as other people
• Sentence- The fact is that students in government schools get a raw deal.

26. Hit the nail on the head:

• Meaning- To do the correct thing
• Sentence- She hit the nail on the head when she laid out a list of justifiable grievances she had with the company.

27. Hand to mouth:

• Meaning- live on only basic necessities
• Sentence- The severe drought led the farmers to live hand to mouth.

28. Hit the bull’s eye:

• Meaning- To be exactly right about something or achieve the best result possible.
• Sentence- The detective hit the bull’s eye when he figured out that nobody but the doctor could have had access to the poison.

29. Let the cat out of the bag:

• Meaning- To reveal the secret carelessly or by mistake
• Sentence- Now that she had let the cat out of the bag, she had no option but to confess.

30. Make a face:

• Meaning- To show dislike or disappointment through facial expressions
• Sentence- Little Stella made a face at the sight of bitter gourd in her food.

31. Open Pandora’s Box:

• Meaning- To find a source of great troubles and problems
• Sentence- Finding the wallet on the road opened up Pandora’s box. I was arrested for stealing when I went to report it at the police station.

32. It’s Greek to me

• Meaning- Something that is not understandable
• Sentence- I failed my commerce test; it was all Greek to me!

33. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket:

• Meaning- Do not put all your resources in one basket.
• Sentence- The boy put all his money into his dream startup that eventually failed. I had told him not to put all his eggs in one basket.

34. To call a spade a spade:

• Meaning- To be brutally frank, outspoken, blunt in speech.
• Sentence- Let’s call a spade a spade – popular he may be, but that man is a liar.

35. To be a Good Samaritan:

• Meaning- To be kind and compassionate to someone in distress
• Sentence- I was sure I would be stuck on the highway till the morning, but a Good Samaritan offered me a ride home.

36. To put in a nutshell:

• Meaning- To say in a few words or to make something concise
• Sentence- The Textbook Development Committee decided to put the 30-page chapter, in a nutshell, to help save time for students during revision.

37. To pour oil on troubled waters:

• Meaning- To make peace
• Sentence- I am always stuck pouring oil on troubled waters when my mother and wife start their bickering.