Idiom Meaning
/ˈɪdiəm/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language, language family, or group of people.
nounA manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language, language family, or group of people., A programming construct or phraseology that is characteristic of the language.
Sentence Examples
I foolishly interpreted the idiom according to its literal sense.
"Time is gold" a true idiom.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher explained that 'break a leg' is an ____ meaning good luck.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The phrase 'it's raining cats and dogs' is a well-known English ____ meaning it is raining very hard.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French idiome, and its source, Late Latin idioma, from Ancient Greek ἰδίωμα (idíōma, “a peculiarity, property, a peculiar phraseology, idiom”), from ἰδιοῦσθαι (idioûsthai, “to make one's own, appropriate to oneself”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private, personal, peculiar, separate”). By surface analysis, idi- + -om.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I have to use the same assignment and call to raw_input in two places. How can I avoid that? I can use the while True/break idiom: […]"
— 2005, Magnus Lie Hetland, Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional, →ISBN, page 100:
"Many parents and teachers have become irritated to the point of distraction at the way the weed-style growth of "like" has spread through the idiom of the young."
— 2010 January 13, Christopher Hitchens, “The Other L-Word”, in Vanity Fair:
"You’re history, we say […]. Surely it is an American idiom. Impossible to imagine a postwar European saying, “You’re history. . . . That’s history,” meaning fuhgeddaboudit, pal."
— 2008, Patricia Hampl, “You’re History”, in Patricia Hampl, Elaine Tyler May, editors, Tell Me True: Memoir, History, and Writing a Life, Minnesota Historical Society, →ISBN, page 134:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The teacher explained that 'break a leg' is an ____ meaning good luck.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The phrase 'it's raining cats and dogs' is a well-known English ____ meaning it is raining very hard.