Idioms with Colors in English With Meanings and Sentence.
Table of Contents
Red tape
Meaning: Official or bureaucratic rules, methods, or tasks.
Sentence: There is so much red tape involved in opening up a supermarket that we decided to dump the plan altogether.
To see red
Meaning: To be very angry.
Sentence: I saw red when that boy grabbed my wife’s purse.
In the red
Meaning: In debt, a person or business is losing money.
Sentence:
- When I was in the red I almost had to sell the house.
- Jerry sells kitchen products on her website. She has made money from this for years, but recently, she has been in the red.
Roll out the red carpet
Meaning: Treat someone as royalty.
Sentence: When our relatives come to town my mother rolls out the red carpet.
Beet red
Meaning: Dark red (generally to describe face).
Sentence: My brother’s face turned beet red when I caught his dance in front of a mirror.
Catch red handed
Meaning: Catch someone in the act of doing something wrong or illegal, Doing or about to do something illegal or wrong.
Sentence: The children were caught red-handed stealing chocolate bars.
Black out
Meaning: Faint, to be in a semi-unconscious state such that to not have any memory of a certain moment.
Sentence: A mother of a child’s blacked out on seeing him at the hospital.
Black and blue
Meaning: Bruised and beaten, Describe something that is badly bruised.
Sentence: I found the poor guy black and blue near the restaurant.
Black and white
Meaning: Very clear, straightforward, Written, or printed.
Sentence:
- The rules I gave the students were black and white.
- This is very good to have the agreement in black and white.
- My son is still very young to understand the shades of grey, she talks in black and white.
Black as night
Meaning: Somewhere very dark, when it is hard to see anything.
Sentence: I had another terrible power cut last night; it was as black as night in our house.
Black as a skillet
Meaning: Used to describe something that is very dirty, black with dirt.
Sentence: My hands and clothes were as black as a skillet.
Black sheep
Meaning: A person who is a disgrace to a family or group, the odd or bad member of the group.
Sentence: My youngest brother was the black sheep in our family. He dropped out of school at ten.
Black Eye
Meaning: A bruise near one’s eye.
Sentence: Mike came home with a horrible black eye yesterday.
Black market
Meaning: Specific places where goods are illegally bought and sold for a profit.
Sentence: Jackson used to sell cigarettes from North America on the black market!
In the dark
Meaning: Unaware.
Sentence: My friend kept me in the dark about her plan of starting a new business.
Grey area
Meaning: Something without a clear rule, idea, or answer.
Sentence: Sometimes a contractual term lies in a grey area between the two.
Golden opportunity
Meaning: The perfect chance, the perfect chance.
Sentence: The business conference was a golden opportunity for me to sell my insurance products.
The green light
Meaning: Permission.
Sentence: The owner has given the green light to build the tower.
Green Thumb
Meaning: A special ability to make plants grow.
Sentence:
- He has a green thumb, he is very good at gardening and their plants grow well.
- She has an remarkably green thumb, she can grow any plants.
Green with envy
Meaning: Very jealous
Sentence: I am green with envy over Marry’s new smartphone.
Have the blues
Meaning: Be sad or depressed.
Sentence: I always have the blues during the summertime.
Once in a blue moon
Meaning: Very rarely.
Sentence:
- I am very careful about what I eat so it is only once in a blue moon I eat fast food.
- Because of living abroad, I get to see my wife once in a blue moon.
Blue Collar
Meaning: Working in a manual labor job.
Sentence:
My parents were both blue-collar workers.
Examples of blue-collar employees include machine operators, construction workers, assemblers, millwrights, and truck drivers.
Out of the blue
Meaning: Unexpectedly.
Sentence: I got a phone call from a lost friend out of the blue last month.
Rose colored glasses
Meaning: Unrealistic view.
Sentence: Sally imagines Hollywood with rose-colored glasses.
Tickled pink
Meaning: Very pleased and appreciative.
Sentence: My mother was tickled pink when my dad brought red roses home for her.
True colors
Meaning: Real self, to show what one is really like, to reveal one’s real nature or character.
Sentence: Jonathan seemed nice at first, but he showed his true colors during the difficulty.
With flying colors
Meaning: With distinction, triumph, with an overwhelming victory or success.
Sentence: He passed his road test with flying colors.
Yellow-Bellied
Meaning: A coward.
Sentence: Jolly was called yellow-bellied after she was too scared to go on the rollercoaster.
To be yellow
Meaning: To be cowardly.
Sentence: I am not surprised that John did not come to the rally—he is too yellow to support his beliefs in public.
Pink Slip
Meaning: A notice of dismissal from employment.
Sentence: Rose got her pink slip over twenty years ago.
White Elephant
Meaning: An expensive item that is costly to maintain.
Sentence: Bill Gates invested his savings in the business and it is turned into a white elephant.
White lie
Meaning: An innocent lie to protect another person’s feelings
Sentence: We told Grandmother that her pizza was delicious, which was indeed a white lie.
Silver Screen
Meaning: The film industry.
Sentence: Nothing compares to see an action movie on the silver screen—it is larger than life.
Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth
Meaning: Born into a rich family.
Sentence: She has never worked hard for anything because she was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Her parents brought everything to him instead.
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