For English language learners, mastering idioms is vital for academic and professional success. Proficiency exams like IELTS and TOEFL assess idiom comprehension, recognising it as a sign of advanced ...

Being a linguist—and someone who has tried to learn several languages (including English) in addition to my mother tongue (Flemish Dutch)—I have an annoying habit: instead of paying attention to what ...

Is it better to treat someone with kid gloves or to treat them carefully? Researchers in Italy have investigated how the brain recognizes that the first phrase means the same as the second. The ...

Language is a living archive. Hidden inside the phrases you use every day are stories of ancient wars, medieval punishments, market swindles, and superstitions so bizarre they’d make your jaw drop.

Almost like a less offensive Urban Dictionary, IdiomDictionary is for those phrases that everyone seems to understand except you—instead of getting them to explain it, you can look it up in their ...

The English language is old. Like, really old. It’s old enough that its speakers use a good many idiomatic sayings that were thought up decades or even centuries ago, and that use words people don’t ...

From “once in a blue moon” to “at sixes and sevens”, these 15 number phrases can make everyday English sharper, more expressive and less predictable.