English idioms, proverbs, and expressions are an important part of everyday English. They come up all the time in both written and spoken English. Because idioms don’t always make sense literally, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the meaning and usage of each idiom. That may seem like a lot of work, but learning idioms is fun, especially when you compare English idioms to the idioms in your own language.
Here’s a list of “Idioms Beginning With W” in English:
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Waiting in the Wings
Meaning: Ready to assume responsibilities but not yet active, ready to become a successor
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Waka-Jumping
Meaning: Change political parties (said of politicians themselves)
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Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Meaning: Stop deluding yourself
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Wake Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed
Meaning: Be grumpy or ill-humored. Generally used in past tense
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Walk on Eggshells
Meaning: To have to act very sensitively in order to avoid offending someone
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Walk the Plank
Meaning: Be forced to resign a position
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Wandering Eye
Meaning: A tendency to look at and desire women or men other than one’s committed romantic partner
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Wandering Eye
Meaning: A tendency to look at and desire women or men other than one’s committed romantic partner
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Wash Your Hands of (Something)
Meaning: Decline to take further responsibility; refuse to be involved with something anymore
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Water Under the Bridge
Meaning: Something in the past that’s no longer worth worrying about
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Watering Hole
Meaning: A place where alcoholic beverages are served, a bar
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Weekend Warrior
Meaning: Someone who has an office job but enjoys contact sports on weekends; a member of a military reserve force (whose exercises are typically on weekends)
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We’ll Cross That Bridge
Meaning: When We Come to It We’ll deal with that problem if and when it comes up
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Welsh (Welch) on a Deal
Meaning: Not observe the terms of an agreement
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Wet Behind the Ears
Meaning: inexperienced, immature, new to something
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Wet Behind the Ears
Meaning: Inexperienced, immature, new to something
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Wet Blanket
Meaning: Someone who dampens a festive occasion
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Wet Your Whistle
Meaning: Drink something
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What Do You Make of (Him)?
Meaning: What is your evaluation of this person?
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What Goes Around Comes Around
Meaning: The kind of treatment you give to others will eventually return to you; things go in cycles
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What’s Good for the Goose Is Good for the Gander
Meaning: What’s OK for a man is OK for a woman, too
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When Hell Freezes Over
Meaning: Never
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When In Doubt, Leave It Out
Meaning: When unsure about something, omit it.
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When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do
Meaning: When you visit a new place, follow the customs of the people there
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When It Rains, It Pours
Meaning: Problems tend to come in groups.
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When Pigs Fly
Meaning: Never
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When the Chips Are Down
Meaning: When a situation becomes urgent or difficult
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Where (When) the Rubber
Meaning: Meets the Road In reality; where an idea meets a real-world test
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Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
Meaning: If you have a strong desire to accomplish something, you will achieve it even in the face of considerable odds.
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Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire
Meaning: If there is typical evidence of something, the most likely explanation is that it is actually occurring.
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Whisper Sweet Nothings (in Someone’s Ear)
Meaning: Speak meaningless romantic utterances
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Whistle in the Dark
Meaning: To be unrealistically confident or brave; to talk about something of which one has little knowledge
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Whistle Past the Graveyard
Meaning: Remain optimistic despite dangers; be clueless
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Whistling Dixie
Meaning: Being unrealistically optimistic
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White Elephant
Meaning: An unwanted item that is difficult to sell or dispose of
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Who’s She, the Cat’s Mother?
Meaning: Why does she have such a high opinion of herself?
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Wild Goose Chase
Meaning: An impossible or futile search or task
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Window Dressing
Meaning: A misleading disguise intended to present a favorable impression
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Window Shop
Meaning: To look at merchandise in a store without intending to buy it
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Witch Hunt
Meaning: An organized attempt to persecute an unpopular group of people and blame them for a problem.
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With Bells On
Meaning: Eagerly, willingly, and on time.
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Work One’s Fingers to the Bone
Meaning: Work very hard over an extended period
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Worn to a Frazzle
Meaning: Exhausted, completely worn out
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Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead
Meaning: Would absolutely not allow myself to do this
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Writing (Handwriting) on the Wall
Meaning: Hints of coming disaster