Idioms and Phrases for CLAT: Introduction, Strategies and More

Introduction

• Try to devise its visual meaning by putting it in a sentence. Eg. cut a sorry figure it means ‘to give a poor show’. Now when you read this idiom you get an impression that it is talking about some mistake or something in negative. Thus choose an option which is adverse in its spirit and reflects such related meaning
• Read the idiom again and again and try to draw a connection between the words used. Eg. to cry for the moon,it means ‘to aspire for an impossible thing’. Now if you draw a connection between ‘cry’ and ‘moon’ so why will someone actually cry for a moon as a rational man knows one cannot have the moon, thus moon here relates to something which one cannot have. Hence it can be derived that you are crying for something which you cannot get.
• While reading the idioms try to understand the context for which they are used, this will help you in memorizing them.

1. Idiom – Grease the palm

1. Idiom – Nip in the bud

1. Idiom – Turn a deaf ear

1. Idiom – Knit the brow

1. Idiom – In a flutter

1. Idiom – Fabian policy

1. Idiom – By fits and starts

1. Idiom – At a loose end

1. Idiom – Hang fire

1. Idiom – Windfall

1. Idiom -ABC

1. Idiom – Blow hot and cold

1. Idiom – Cock and bull story

1. Idiom – Gall and wormwood

1. Idiom – Herculean task

1. Idiom – Kith and kin

1. Idiom – Open and above board

1. Idiom – Queer fish

1. Idiom – Rhyme or reason

1. Idiom – Between Scylla and Charybdis

1. Idiom – At dagger’s drawn

1. Idiom – Bluestocking

1. Idiom – Draconian Law

1. Idiom – Eke out

1. Idiom – Damp squib

1. Idiom – Hit below the belt

1. Idiom – In the red

1. Idiom – Keep the pot boiling

1. Idiom – One’s Achilles heel

1. Idiom – a Pyrrhic victory

Editor’s Note: Simple reading these idioms and phrases will not be enough for CLAT. Use them in sentences of your own as you read.

1. Idiom – A scarlet woman

1. Idiom – To set the Thames on fire

1. Idiom – Take somebody for a ride

1. Idiom – White elephant

1. Idiom – Wry face

1. Idiom – Hush Money

1. Idiom – Not born yesterday

1. Idiom – Speck and span

1. Idiom – Milk and water

1. Idiom – Uphill task

1. Idiom – To assume airs

1. Idiom – to burn the midnight oil

1. Idiom – to bury the hatchet

1. Idiom – to buy a pig in a poke

1. Idiom – To curry favour

1. Idiom – To go on fool’s errand

1. Idiom – to have feet of clay

1. Idiom – To keep abreast of

1. Idiom – to pour oil on troubled water

1. Idiom – To show the white feather

Click here to read about analogies in English vocabulary.