English Idioms: Meanings, Examples and Equivalents
Learn English idioms with meanings, examples, origins and multilingual equivalents.
Akcento is a growing collection of English idioms paired with their natural equivalents in Russian, Spanish and French — not word-for-word translations, but expressions real speakers would actually use. Every entry includes the meaning, origin story and example sentences in all four languages.
Popular Idioms
Spill the tea
🇷🇺 Сливать инсайд · 🇪🇸 Contar el chisme · 🇫🇷 Raconter les potinsTo share gossip or dramatic news.
Go out on a limb
🇷🇺 Подставить себя под удар · 🇪🇸 Mojarse · 🇫🇷 Se mouillerTo take a personal risk by expressing an uncertain opinion, making a bold prediction, or publicly supporting someone when others may disagree. The phrase often suggests that the speaker could be proved wrong, criticized, or left without support. It is especially common in the formula “I’ll go out on a limb and say…” when introducing a tentative but confident guess.
Drop the ball
🇷🇺 Сплоховать · 🇪🇸 Meter la pata · 🇫🇷 Faire une bourdeTo make a mistake or fail in one's responsibility.
Cut to the chase
🇷🇺 Перейти сразу к делу · 🇪🇸 Ir al grano · 🇫🇷 Aller droit au butTo get directly to the point without wasting time.
Rob Peter to pay Paul
🇷🇺 Перекладывать из одного кармана в другой · 🇪🇸 Desvestir a un santo para vestir a otro · 🇫🇷 Déshabiller Pierre pour habiller PaulTo discharge one debt by incurring another.
Head in the clouds
🇷🇺 Витать в облаках · 🇪🇸 Tener la cabeza en las nubes · 🇫🇷 Avoir la tête dans les nuagesDaydreaming and disconnected from reality.
Browse by Category
Action & Decision
🇷🇺 Действия и решения · 🇪🇸 Acciones y decisiones · 🇫🇷 Actions et décisionsEnglish idioms and expressions about actions, decisions, choices, and taking action. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and equivalents…
Communication
🇷🇺 Общение · 🇪🇸 Comunicación · 🇫🇷 CommunicationCommon English communication idioms with meanings, examples, and translations. Explore expressions about speaking, conversation, and social interaction.
Daily Expressions
🇷🇺 Повседневные выражения · 🇪🇸 Expresiones cotidianas · 🇫🇷 Expressions du quotidienEnglish idioms and expressions used in everyday communication. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and equivalents in other languages.
Effort & Success
🇷🇺 Усилия и успех · 🇪🇸 Esfuerzo y éxito · 🇫🇷 Effort et réussiteEnglish idioms and expressions about effort, achievement, progress, and success. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and equivalents in…
General Phrases
🇷🇺 Общие выражения · 🇪🇸 Expresiones generales · 🇫🇷 Expressions généralesCommon English idioms and expressions that cover a wide range of everyday situations. Explore their meanings, examples, translations,…
Luck & Chance
🇷🇺 Удача и случай · 🇪🇸 Suerte y azar · 🇫🇷 Chance et hasardEnglish idioms and expressions about luck, chance, fortune, and unexpected events. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and equivalents…
Mind & Emotions
🇷🇺 Разум и эмоции · 🇪🇸 Mente y emociones · 🇫🇷 Esprit et émotionsEnglish idioms and expressions about thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and states of mind. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and…
Money & Cost
🇷🇺 Деньги и расходы · 🇪🇸 Dinero y costes · 🇫🇷 Argent et coûtsEnglish idioms and expressions about money, prices, costs, wealth, and spending. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and equivalents…
Nature & World
🇷🇺 Природа и мир · 🇪🇸 Naturaleza y mundo · 🇫🇷 Nature et mondeEnglish idioms and expressions inspired by nature, the world, animals, and the environment. Explore their meanings, examples, translations,…
Secrecy & Secrets
🇷🇺 Тайны и секреты · 🇪🇸 Secretos y confidencialidad · 🇫🇷 Secrets et confidentialitéEnglish idioms and expressions about secrets, secrecy, hidden information, and keeping things private. Explore their meanings, examples, translations,…
Social Interactions
🇷🇺 Социальные взаимодействия · 🇪🇸 Interacciones sociales · 🇫🇷 Interactions socialesEnglish idioms and expressions about relationships, communication, social situations, and interactions with others. Explore their meanings, examples, translations,…
Time & Action
🇷🇺 Время и действия · 🇪🇸 Tiempo y acción · 🇫🇷 Temps et actionEnglish idioms and expressions about time, timing, actions, and getting things done. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and…
Time & Change
🇷🇺 Время и перемены · 🇪🇸 Tiempo y cambio · 🇫🇷 Temps et changementEnglish idioms and expressions about time, change, transformation, and the passage of time. Explore their meanings, examples, translations,…
Weather & Nature
🇷🇺 Погода и природа · 🇪🇸 Tiempo y naturaleza · 🇫🇷 Météo et natureEnglish idioms and expressions related to weather, nature, seasons, and natural phenomena. Explore their meanings, examples, translations, and…
Work & Business
🇷🇺 Работа и бизнес · 🇪🇸 Trabajo y negocios · 🇫🇷 Travail et affairesEnglish idioms and expressions about work, business, careers, professional relationships, and workplace situations. Explore their meanings, examples, translations,…
Latest Idioms
Turn a blind eye
🇷🇺 Закрывать глаза на что-то · 🇪🇸 Hacer la vista gorda · 🇫🇷 Fermer les yeux sur quelque choseTo deliberately ignore something wrong, unpleasant or inconvenient despite being aware of it. Often implies a conscious decision not to intervene.
Take the wind out of someone’s sails
🇷🇺 Выбить почву из-под ног · 🇪🇸 Dejar a alguien sin argumentos · 🇫🇷 Couper l’herbe sous le pied de quelqu’unTo weaken someone’s confidence, enthusiasm or advantage, often by saying or doing something unexpected that undermines their momentum.
Get the wrong end of the stick
🇷🇺 Понять всё шиворот-навыворот · 🇪🇸 Entender las cosas al revés · 🇫🇷 Comprendre de traversTo misunderstand what someone means or what is happening, often by drawing the opposite or an incorrect conclusion from the available information. The phrase is especially common when correcting a mistaken impression.
Have a bone to pick with someone
🇷🇺 Иметь зуб на кого-то · 🇪🇸 Tener cuentas pendientes con alguien · 🇫🇷 Avoir un compte à régler avec quelqu’unTo have a specific complaint or grievance that you want to discuss with someone, often directly and somewhat confrontationally. It can be playful or serious depending on tone.
Split hairs
🇷🇺 Придираться к мелочам · 🇪🇸 Hilar muy fino · 🇫🇷 Couper les cheveux en quatreTo make overly fine distinctions or argue about tiny differences that have little practical importance. It often implies that the speaker considers the distinctions unnecessary.
Be a fish out of water
🇷🇺 Быть не в своей тарелке · 🇪🇸 Estar como pez fuera del agua · 🇫🇷 Être comme un poisson hors de l’eauTo feel uncomfortable, awkward or out of place in an unfamiliar environment or social situation.
Call someone’s bluff
🇷🇺 Взять на слабо · 🇪🇸 Poner a prueba el farol de alguien · 🇫🇷 Prendre quelqu’un au bluffTo challenge a person to prove that they mean what they claim or threaten, especially when you suspect they are pretending or will not follow through.
Have a bee in your bonnet
🇷🇺 Иметь пунктик · 🇪🇸 Tener una idea fija · 🇫🇷 Avoir une idée fixeTo be preoccupied with a particular idea or concern, often talking about it repeatedly or showing an unusual fixation. The idea may be sensible or eccentric.
Have your work cut out for you
🇷🇺 Работы непочатый край · 🇪🇸 Tener mucho trabajo por delante · 🇫🇷 Avoir du pain sur la plancheTo face a difficult or substantial amount of work that will require considerable effort, skill or time. It does not mean the work is already done.
Be in over your head
🇷🇺 Быть не по зубам · 🇪🇸 Quedarle grande a alguien · 🇫🇷 Être dépassé par les événementsTo be involved in a task or situation that is too difficult, demanding or complicated for your abilities or experience; to be overwhelmed.
Draw the short straw
🇷🇺 Крайним оказался · 🇪🇸 Tocarle la china a alguien · 🇫🇷 Tirer la courte pailleTo be the unlucky person chosen to do an unpleasant task or accept an undesirable outcome, often by chance or an apparently fair selection.
Make a mountain out of a molehill
🇷🇺 Делать из мухи слона · 🇪🇸 Hacer una montaña de un grano de arena · 🇫🇷 En faire toute une montagneTo exaggerate a small problem until it seems much more serious than it really is. Usually criticizes an excessive reaction or needless drama.
Why Are English Idioms Important?
Idioms are an essential part of natural English. You will hear them in everyday conversations, movies, podcasts, books, news, and social media. Even when you know every word in a sentence, an idiom can still change its meaning completely.
Idioms Help You Understand Real English
Knowing individual words is not always enough to understand what someone means. Expressions like spill the beans or under the weather have meanings that cannot be guessed from the words alone. Learning common idioms helps you understand native speakers more easily and avoid confusion.
Idioms Make Your English More Natural
Idioms are also a way to make your own English sound more natural and expressive. Instead of always describing an idea literally, you can use the expressions that English speakers commonly use in real conversations and writing.
Idioms Reflect Culture and History
Many idioms come from everyday life, historical events, literature, occupations, traditions, and cultural habits. Understanding where an expression comes from can make its meaning easier to remember — and gives you a glimpse into the culture behind the language.
Learning Idioms Across Languages
An idiom becomes even more interesting when you discover how the same idea is expressed in another language. A literal translation may sound strange or unnatural, while another language may have its own expression with a similar meaning. Akcento helps you discover these natural equivalents and see how different languages express the same ideas in their own way.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Akcento?
Akcento is a multilingual idiom dictionary. Each entry shows an English idiom together with its natural equivalents in Russian, Spanish and French, along with meaning, origin and example sentences.
Why aren't the translations literal?
Idioms rarely translate word for word — “it’s raining cats and dogs” has nothing to do with animals in Russian or Spanish. Instead of literal translations, we match idioms across languages by meaning.
How can I find an idiom?
Use the search bar at the top of any page, or browse all idioms by category or by first letter on the All Idioms page.
Is Akcento free?
Yes, Akcento is free to browse.