All Idioms
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Meaning: While the person involved is not actually there, especially in a formal or legal setting.
Example: The court convicted Mike of fraud in absentia after he fled overseas and never came back for the trial. Read more ➺
Meaning: A spot where someone is likely to catch blame, criticism, or heat for something that went wrong.
Example: After the budget cuts were announced, the department heads found themselves right in the firing line and had to explain every decision to angry staff. Read more ➺
Meaning: Something, especially a decision or choice, that feels so easy and obvious you barely need to think about it.
Example: Mike saw the full scholarship next to the expensive private school and accepted it right away—it was a no-brainer. Read more ➺
Meaning: A crime pulled off by or with help from someone who works or lives there and has trusted access.
Example: The vault was emptied with no forced entry, so the cops called it an inside job. Read more ➺
Meaning: Someone finally gets exactly what they deserve, usually in a way that feels perfectly fitting or a little ironic, so the bad ones end up punished and the good ones come out ahead.
Example: After years of shortchanging his workers on pay, Mike watched his own company collapse and ended up taking a low-wage job himself, and everyone around him said it was pure poetic justice. Read more ➺
Meaning: Put a person back into a healthy or steady state after illness, injury, or emotional pain.
Example: After everything fell apart, Sarah looked at him and said, "Only you can make me whole" Read more ➺
Meaning: The most important or leading person in a group, company, or activity; the boss or the one in charge.
Example: After years of solid work, Mike became the top banana of the sales team and started calling the shots. Read more ➺
Meaning: A person or thing that can suddenly change the way things turn out.
Example: Mike was the real joker in the pack in the election because no one knew how he would change the result. Read more ➺
Meaning: A person with two very different sides to their personality, one good and pleasant and the other bad or evil.
Example: Mike is a real Jekyll and Hyde who chats warmly with the neighbors on the street but turns cold and short-tempered the moment he steps inside his own house. Read more ➺
Meaning: A discovery or idea that appears important but proves to be false or worthless.
Example: After the meeting, Tom realized the new plan was just a mare's nest of vague ideas that would never actually work. Read more ➺
