How to Use idiom in a Sentence

idiom

noun
  • The expression “give way,” meaning “retreat,” is an idiom.
  • The one with its idioms and bite?
    — Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
  • Where there's a will, there's a way--as true as any idiom could be.
    — Arkansas Online, 16 Jan. 2023
  • And, as the idiom goes, steel sharpens steel.
    — Kyle Eustice, SPIN, 7 Apr. 2026
  • English has lots of bill idioms, but the bills involved are not the same.
    — Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Feb. 2023
  • But nobody's quite been able to write the script that does it in the modern idiom.
    — Dominic Corry, EW.com, 5 Aug. 2021
  • And, perhaps hidden in all those cards, a few senses or idioms to add.
    — Kory Stamper, Slate Magazine, 14 Mar. 2017
  • Jazz may be the most macho music idiom of them all, too macho at times for my tastes.
    — Ted Gioia, WSJ, 8 Sep. 2017
  • This idiom dates back 200 years to when people hunted with packs of dogs.
    — Marylou Tousignant, Washington Post, 30 May 2022
  • Just a few idioms belittle height, such as having your head in the clouds or looking down your nose.
    — Grant Segall, cleveland, 3 Jan. 2020
  • But there was something compellingly true about his simple idiom that has stuck with me over the years.
    — Michael McMullen, Forbes, 3 Aug. 2022
  • Buchanan loves the sanguine talk, but his own idiom is quite often refined, even bookish.
    — Sam Tanenhaus, Esquire, 5 Apr. 2017
  • Grief folded tightly inside idiom, like a note slipped under a door.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
  • Sutsilvan, the smallest idiom, has just one school.
    — Simon Akam, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
  • But obviously, there are plenty of fish (the idiom, not the app).
    — Iris Goldsztajn, Marie Claire, 20 Oct. 2021
  • For him, the impact of a work of art was bound to an artist’s discovery of his own idiom and vision of the world.
    — Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, The New York Review of Books, 28 Jan. 2020
  • An idiom is a phrase that is common to a certain population.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
  • The task of translating from one idiom to another keeps you honest.
    — Lula Konner, The New York Review of Books, 4 Oct. 2025
  • There is a French idiom that says when something is so easy, it can be done with ‘les doigts dans le nez’ — the fingers in the nose.
    — Liam Tharme, The Athletic, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Just for clarity — both ‘burying the hatchet’ and ‘off the table’ are idioms.
    — miamiherald, 19 Aug. 2017
  • And then there’s the elephant in the room — perhaps something bigger than an elephant may be needed in this idiom.
    — Tony East, Forbes, 5 June 2021
  • Choose a play on words or an idiom related to the room's function for a floor that displays wit and charm to anyone who enters.
    — Laura Lambert, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 June 2020
  • Choose a play on words or an idiom related to the room's function for a floor that displays wit and charm to anyone who enters.
    — Laura Lambert, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 June 2020
  • Allusions to myths, fables, and riffs on common idioms abound, many of them evocative and quite funny.
    — Lora Kelley, New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Like the idiom, their coffee shop hopes to bring surprising offerings to the coffee scene.
    — Kansas City Star, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Like the idiom, their coffee shop hopes to bring surprising offerings to the coffee scene.
    — Jenna Thompson april 22, Kansas City Star, 22 Apr. 2026
  • Yes, the hashtag narrative as an idiom to bring forth change is powerful, but the counter response to them is just as telling.
    — Taylor Crumpton, TIME, 10 May 2024
  • There’s this Douglas Adams joke that in no language is there the idiom as pretty as an airport.
    — Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Out of step, but useful Pro-mom language is sometimes, in the old idiom, the velvet glove hiding the iron fist.
    — Shauna Shames, The Conversation, 19 Sep. 2023
  • At this, Beatriz warms up to Witold, someone who, among other things, does not speak the idiom of the bourgeoise.
    — Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'idiom.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: