Useful Idioms for the World of Business: Part 1
English is one of the most-used languages in the business world, and if you don’t know what an idiom means you can quickly lose track of the conversation and lose out on opportunities. Here are some popular idioms and what they mean to help get your business ahead of the rest!
Find out how to use Spellzone to help improve English in your workplace here and here.
- 24/7 / round-the-clock – 24 hours a day
- a backroom deal – a decision that is made in secret (sometimes because it is against regulations/public interest)
- a ballpark figure – an estimate
- a no brainer – a decision that should be obvious/easy to make
- a no-win (lose-lose) situation – a situation in which no one stands to gain anything
- a tough break – an unfortunate or difficult situation
- a win-win situation – a situation in which everyone stands to gain something
- ahead of the curve – ahead of the current state of thinking/current trends
- behind the scenes – out of the public eye
- cut-throat – aggressive and merciless
- game plan – strategy
- grey area – a situation or area of activity that is not clearly defined and not easily categorised
- ground-breaking – pioneering
- in the black – breaking even or making a profit
- in the red – owing money/operating at a loss
- long shot – something that has a low chance of succeeding
- loophole – a part of a law or regulation that is unclear or inadequate and so means people can take advantage of it
- no strings attached – an offer that is given without any expectations, restrictions, or conditions
- not going to fly – is not going to work/is not going to be approved
- snail mail – traditional post (rather than email)
- state of the art – incorporating the newest ideas and features
- the big picture – a broad overview
- the elephant in the room – an obvious and usually uncomfortable truth that remains unaddressed
- the last straw – the final event/piece of information in a series of unpleasant and unwelcome ones that causes someone to give up (or have another extreme reaction)
- the sky’s the limit – anything is possible
- to be in in the driver’s seat – to be in control
- to cave/to cave in – to give in under pressure
- to corner/control to a market – to dominate the supply of a particular product
- to cut corners – to take shortcuts in order to save money (sometimes at the expense of quality)
- to cut your losses – to abandon a plan/project which is clearly going to be unsuccessful before circumstances become worse
If you’ve found this post useful, why not check out our other articles on idioms?
01 Mar 2016
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