50 Common Business Idioms to Use in Any Situation.

 

What Is an Idiom?

Idioms are an important and entrenched part of the English language and are a commonly used expression whose meaning does not relate to the literal meaning of its words.

There are literally tens of thousands of idioms and common expressions, many of which are exclusive to specific countries or regions whilst others are a staple part of the English language on an international level.

Below is a list of 50 of the most common, and important internationally recognized idioms relating to business.

I hope that they help you with your ongoing journey to learn English.

Good luck and good study.

idiom	meaning	example
Ahead of the pack	To be more successful than the competition	If we want to stay ahead of the pack, we’ll have to increase our marketing budget.
Back to square one	To start something over again because a previous attempt failed	To make this software finally work, we have to go back to square one.
Ballpark number/figure	A very inexact estimate	To give you a ballpark figure, how much the border wall to Mexico is going to cost, I’d say about 30 million dollars.
Big picture	Everything that is involved with a particular situation	Working on all these details, we have lost sight of the big picture.
By the book	To do things exactly according to the rules or the law	We told our auditors that we do everything by the book.
Corner the market	To dominate a particular market	Amazon more or less corners the online retailing market.
Cut-throat	Very intense, aggressive, and merciless competition	Competition in the food retailing business is cut-throat.
Easy come, easy go	Something gained easily is also lost easily	I lost 500 Euros in a poker game last night, but that’s life – easy come, easy go.
Game plan	A strategy or plan for achieving success	What is our game plan for dealing with our new competitor?
Get down to business	Stop making small talk and start talking about serious business topics	Now that everyone’s here, let’s get down to business and start with the presentation.
Get something off the ground	To start something (e.g. a project or a business)	Now that we have finished the planning phase, we’re eager the get the project off the ground.
Go down the drain	Something is wasted or lost	All our efforts in entering this new market went down the drain.
Go the extra mile	To do more than what people expect	To give our customers the best shopping experience, we go the extra mile.
Hands are tied	Not being free to behave in the way that you would like	I’d love to help you, but my hands are tied.
In a nutshell	Using as few words as possible	In a nutshell, we will run out of cash in three months' time.
In full swing	At a stage when the level of activity is at its highest	Construction of our new production site is in full swing now.
In the driver’s seat	To be in charge or in control of a situation	Being offered the position of managing director, I’ll soon be in the driver’s seat.
Keep one’s eye on the ball	To give something one’s full attention and to not lose focus	We should not diversify our product offering too much, but rather keep our eyes on the ball.
Learn the ropes	Learn the basics of something (e.g. a job)	I’m learning the ropes in my new position.
Long shot	Something that has a very low probability of happening	Winning the lottery is a long shot.
No-brainer	Something that is really obvious or easy	Making money working for an investment bank is a no-brainer.
No strings attached	Something is given without involving special demands or limits	They will let you try the product for free with no strings attached.
Not going to fly	Something isn’t expected to work out	This product is definitely not going to fly.
On the same page	To be in agreement about something	Let’s go over the contract details once more to make sure we’re on the same page.
Out in the open	Something that is public knowledge and not secret anymore	Our financials our out in the open anyway.
Put all one’s eggs in one basket	To rely on only one thing to bring success	It’s not smart to invest in American tech stocks only and put all one’s eggs in one basket.
Put the cart before the horse	To do or think about things in the wrong order	Trying to find an investor without having a business plan is like putting the cart before the horse.
Raise the bar	To set standards or expectations higher	The iPhone raised the bar for smartphone makers.
Red tape	Official rules and processes that seem excessive and unnecessary	The new law is going to create a lot of red tape.
Rock the boat	To do or say something that will upset people or cause problems	Don’t rock the boat until the negotiations are finished.
Safe bet	Something that is certain to happen	It’s a safe bet that computer processor speed will more than triple within the next 10 years.
Same boat	To be in the same difficult situation as someone else	None of us has any money left, so we’re all in the same boat.
See eye to eye	To agree with somebody	My boss doesn’t see eye to eye with me about our marketing campaign.
See something through	To continue until something is finished	I want to see this project through before taking on another one.
Sever ties	To end a relationship	We had to sever ties with several suppliers due to poor product quality.
Shoot something down	To reject something (e.g. an idea or a proposal)	You shouldn’t shoot down your co-workers' ideas during a brainstorming session.
Smooth sailing	A situation where success is achieved without difficulties	Once our largest competitor went out of business, it was smooth sailing.
Stand one’s ground	To not change one’s opinion or position	They tried to cut my travel budget, but I stood my ground.
Take the bull by the horns	To directly confront a difficult situation in a brave and determined way	My mid-level managers constantly delayed projects, so I took the bull by the horns and fired several of them.
Talk someone into something	To convince someone to do something	I was reluctant to redesign our website, but my employees talked me into it.
Talk someone out of something	To convince someone not to do something	We wanted to take on more debt, but our CFO talked us out of it.
The elephant in the room	An obvious problem or controversial issue that no one wants to discuss.	We should have discussed our pending litigation, but no one wanted to talk about the elephant in the room.
Think outside the box	To think of creative, unconventional solutions instead of common ones.	Our current approach will get us nowhere. We have to think outside the box.
Time’s up	Time for something or someone has ended.	I think his time’s up as the CEO.
Touch base	To make contact with someone.	I will touch base with you later today.
Twist someone’s arm	To convince someone to do something that he or she does not want to do.	My boss thought the budget was a little high, so I had to twist his arm to get him to agree to it.
Up in the air	Something is undecided or uncertain	Our international expansion plan is still up in the air.
Uphill battle	Something that is difficult to achieve because of obstacles and difficulties	Gaining market share in this country will be an uphill battle due to tough competition.
Upper hand	To have more power than anyone else and so have control	Due to my experience, I had the upper hand in the argument.
Word of mouth	Something is given or done by people talking about something or telling people about something	Many local stores rely on word of mouth to get new customers.

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