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English Questions : Idioms for all banking exams – Set 18

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Welcome to Online English Section with explanation in AffairsCloud.com. Here we are providing here some important idioms and phrases, which is BASED ON IBPS PO/CLERK/LIC AAO/RRB & SSC CGL EXAM and other competitive exams.

Idioms and Phrases

to blow out: to explode, to go flat (for tires); to extinguish by blowing

  • On our trip to Colorado, one of the car tires blew out when it hit a large hole in the road.
  • Little Joey wasn’t able to blow all the candles out, so his big sister helped him.

to become of: to happen to (a missing object or person)
This idiom is always used in a clause beginning with what.

  • What has become of my pencil? I had it ten minutes ago, but now I can’t find it.
  • I wondered what became of you. I looked around the shopping center for two hours, but I couldn’t find you at all.

to shut up: to close for a period of time ; to be quiet, to stop talking
The second definition of this idiom is impolite in formal situations.

  • During the hurricane, all the store owners shut their shops up.
  • Bob’s sister told him to shut up and not say anything more about it.
  • The student got into big trouble for telling his teacher to shut up.

have got: to have, to possess

  • Curtis has got a bad cold. He’s sneezing and coughing a lot.
  • How much money have you got with you right now?

have got to: must (also: have to)

  • She has got to go to Chicago today to sign the contract papers.
  • I have to be back home by two o’clock or my wife will feel ill at ease.

to keep up with: to maintain the same speed or rate as

  • Frieda works so fast that no one in the office can keep up with her.
  • You’ll have to walk more slowly. I can’t keep up with you.

on the other hand: however, in contrast

  • Democracies provide people many freedoms and privileges. On the other hand, democracies suffer many serious problems such as crime and unemployment.
  • My sister takes after my father in appearance. On the other hand, I take after my mother.

to turn down: to reduce in brightness or volume ; to reject, to refuse

  • Please turn down the radio for me. It’s too loud while I’m studying.
  • Laverne wanted to join the military but the recruiting officer turned her application down because Laverne is hard of hearing in one ear.

fifty-fifty: divided into two equal parts

  • Let’s go fifty-fifty on the cost of a new rug for our apartment.
  • The political candidate has a fifty-fifty chance of winning the election.

to break in: gradually to prepare something for use that is new and stiff ; to interrupt (for the second definition, also: to cut in)

  • It is best to break a new car in by driving it slowly for the first few hundred miles.
  • While Carrie and I were talking, Bill broke in to tell me about a telephone call.
  • Peter, it’s very impolite to cut in like that while others are speaking.

a lost cause: a hopeless case, a person or situation having no hope of positive change.

  • It seems that Charles will never listen to our advice. I suppose it’s a lost cause.
  • The police searched for the missing girl for two weeks, but finally gave it up as a lost cause.
  • Children who have committed several crimes as teenagers and show no sorrow about their actions are generally lost causes.

above all: mainly, especially

  • Above all, don’t mention the matter to Gerard; he’s the last person we should tell.
  • Sheila does well in all her school subjects, but above all in mathematics. Her math scores are always over 95 percent.