Idioms and Phrases: A Revision List for SSC, Banking and Railway Exams

29 Oct 2026

Idioms and Phrases

Quick answer

A revision list of common exam idioms and phrases, each with its accepted figurative meaning and a short example sentence, to help SSC, Banking and RRB aspirants build their English vocabulary.

An idiom is a group of words whose meaning cannot be worked out from the individual words: to spill the beans has nothing to do with beans. Idioms and phrases are tested in almost every SSC, Banking and Railway paper, usually as a question that asks you to choose the correct meaning, so they are pure recall and quick marks once you know them. Use this list to revise a few idioms a day rather than all at once. Learn the figurative meaning, never the literal reading, and fix each one in your memory with its example sentence.

Effort and success

Idiom	Meaning	Example sentence
A piece of cake	Something very easy to do	The aptitude section was a piece of cake for her after months of practice.
To burn the midnight oil	To study or work late into the night	He burned the midnight oil for weeks before the final exam.
To hit the nail on the head	To say or identify something exactly right	Her analysis hit the nail on the head: the delay was caused by poor planning.
To go the extra mile	To make more effort than is expected	Teachers who go the extra mile leave a lasting impression on their students.
To pass with flying colours	To succeed with great distinction	She passed the interview with flying colours.
To learn the ropes	To learn how a job or task is done	It took the new clerk a month to learn the ropes.
To bite the bullet	To force yourself to do something difficult or unpleasant	He bit the bullet and began with the subject he feared most.
To pull up one's socks	To make an effort to improve	The coach told the team to pull up their socks before the next match.
To work one's fingers to the bone	To work extremely hard	She worked her fingers to the bone to pay for her studies.

Money

Idiom	Meaning	Example sentence
To make both ends meet	To earn just enough money to live on	With prices rising, many families struggle to make both ends meet.
A white elephant	A costly possession that is useless and troublesome to maintain	The grand stadium became a white elephant once the games were over.
To cost an arm and a leg	To be very expensive	A seat in that coaching institute costs an arm and a leg.
To tighten one's belt	To spend less money because you have less of it	After losing his job, he had to tighten his belt.
To foot the bill	To pay for something	The company agreed to foot the bill for the training programme.
To live from hand to mouth	To have only just enough money to survive	The labourers lived from hand to mouth during the drought.

Trouble and danger

Idiom	Meaning	Example sentence
To be in hot water	To be in trouble	He landed in hot water for submitting the report late.
A bolt from the blue	A sudden and unexpected, usually unpleasant, event	The news of his transfer came as a bolt from the blue.
To smell a rat	To suspect that something is wrong	When the figures did not add up, the auditor smelt a rat.
To be on thin ice	To be in a risky or precarious situation	After missing two deadlines, he was on thin ice with his manager.
To face the music	To accept the unpleasant consequences of one's actions	Having broken the rules, she had to face the music.
To add fuel to the fire	To make a bad situation worse	His sarcastic remark only added fuel to the fire.
Between the devil and the deep blue sea	Caught between two equally difficult choices	Choosing between the two offers, she felt caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
To be in a fix	To be in a difficult situation	He was in a fix when he realised he had left his admit card at home.
A storm in a teacup	A great fuss made over a trivial matter	Their quarrel was just a storm in a teacup and was soon forgotten.

People and character

Idiom	Meaning	Example sentence
A snake in the grass	A hidden enemy or treacherous person	Be careful what you tell him; he is a snake in the grass.
A wet blanket	A person who spoils others' enjoyment	Don't be a wet blanket; come and join the celebration.
The black sheep	A person who is a disgrace to the family or group	He was the black sheep of an otherwise respectable family.
A fair-weather friend	A friend who stays only in good times	When he lost his job, his fair-weather friends disappeared.
To have a heart of gold	To be very kind and generous	The old teacher had a heart of gold and helped every struggling student.
A bookworm	A person who is very fond of reading and studying	Being a bookworm, she spent her holidays in the library.
A man of his word	A person who keeps his promises	You can trust him completely; he is a man of his word.

Speaking and secrets

Idiom	Meaning	Example sentence
To let the cat out of the bag	To reveal a secret, often by accident	She let the cat out of the bag about the surprise party.
To beat about the bush	To avoid coming to the main point	Stop beating about the bush and tell me what really happened.
To call a spade a spade	To speak plainly and frankly	He is known to call a spade a spade, even to his seniors.
To be all ears	To be eager and ready to listen	Tell me about your plan; I'm all ears.
To turn a deaf ear	To ignore or refuse to listen	The officer turned a deaf ear to their complaints.
To spill the beans	To reveal secret information	He spilt the beans about the merger before it was announced.
To get something off one's chest	To say at last something that has been worrying you	She felt relieved after getting the matter off her chest.
To give someone a piece of one's mind	To scold or criticise someone angrily	The principal gave the latecomers a piece of her mind.
To put in a good word	To speak in someone's favour	He put in a good word for me with the manager.

Time and chance

Idiom	Meaning	Example sentence
Once in a blue moon	Very rarely	He visits his hometown once in a blue moon.
At the eleventh hour	At the last possible moment	The project was completed at the eleventh hour.
To keep one's fingers crossed	To hope for a good outcome	I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my results.
To break the ice	To ease the tension at a first meeting	A light joke helped break the ice at the interview.
To bury the hatchet	To make peace and end a quarrel	The two neighbours finally buried the hatchet.
To pull someone's leg	To tease or joke with someone	He was only pulling your leg; he didn't really mean it.
It is high time	It is the right, and slightly overdue, moment to act	It is high time you started serious preparation for the exam.
To make hay while the sun shines	To make good use of an opportunity while it lasts	With demand so high, the shopkeepers made hay while the sun shone.
In the nick of time	Just in time, at the last moment before it is too late	He reached the exam hall in the nick of time.
A blessing in disguise	Something that seems bad at first but turns out to be good	Missing that train was a blessing in disguise, as it was badly delayed later.
To turn over a new leaf	To change one's behaviour for the better	After failing once, he turned over a new leaf and studied in earnest.

How to revise this list

Do not try to memorise every idiom in one sitting. Take one section a day, cover the meaning column, and test yourself using only the idiom. Say the example sentence aloud, because the context fixes the meaning far better than the definition alone. Watch the ones that look similar but differ: a bolt from the blue is always sudden and unwelcome, while a blessing in disguise turns out well. Revisit the whole list once a week until each idiom comes to you instantly, which is all the exam demands.

Ready to practise? Take the Idioms and Phrases quiz

How this was made: Drafted with AI assistance; spot-checked by the editor on 29 October 2026.

Share on WhatsApp