English for Students

Idioms and Phrases

These idioms are compiled from the Cambridge International Dictionary.The Cambridge International Dictionary explains over 7,000 idioms current in British, American and other English speaking countries, helping learners to understand them and use them with confidence. The Cambridge Dictionary, based on the 200 million words of English text in the Cambridge International Corpus, unlocks the meaning of more than 5,000 idiomatic phrases used in contemporary English. Full-sentence examples show how idioms are really used.

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Here is the list of idioms beginning with Z.

Zero hour : The time when something important is to begin is zero hour.


Zero tolerance: If the police have a zero tolerance policy, they will not overlook any crime, no matter how small or trivial.


Zigged before you zagged: If you did things in the wrong order, you zigged before you zagged.


Zip it: This is used to tell someone to be quiet.


Zip your lip: If someone tells you to zip your lip, they want to to shut up or keep quiet about something. ('Zip it' is also used.)