idiomid‧i‧om /ˈɪdiəm/ ●●○ noun 
Word Origin
► see thesaurus at phrase, word2[countable, uncountable] formal or technical a style of expression in writing, speech, or music that is typical of a particular group of people:
the new musical idiom
Word OriginWORD ORIGINidiom
ExamplesOrigin:
1500-1600 French idiome, from Greek idioma ‘personal way of expressing yourself’, from idios; ➔ IDIOTEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- 'Full of beans' is an idiom which means lively and energetic.
- "To be on top of the world" is an idiom that means to be very happy.
- In Hollywood, white stars are adopting black idioms, dress styles and manners.
- Coursework and examination questions are an idiom in themselves.
- Each language has its own phraseology, its own idiom which rules out many options that are potentially available as grammatical sequences.
- It is only the basic spiritual truths which surface time and again, expressed through different idioms.
- It takes on something of the character of an idiom.
- Oakeshott does not, however, adopt the Hobbesian idiom of social contract.
- Often the furore stemmed from audiences' unease at being plugged into a musical idiom shorn of familiar signposts.
- Photographs are, certainly, an idiom we are now all used to.
- When the text has been transcribed you work through it in order to discover and learn any new words or useful idioms.
THESAURUS► phrase
1[countable] a group of words that has a special meaning that is different from the ordinary meaning of each separate word. For example, ‘under the weather’ is an idiom meaning ‘ill’. a group of words that have a particular meaning when used together, or which someone uses on a particular occasion: · What was the phrase he used to describe her?· I’ve never heard of the phrase before.· The president often used the phrase ‘War on terror’.
► expression a fixed phrase which is used in a language and has a particular meaning: · a colloquial expression (=an informal expression used in everyday spoken language)· The old-fashioned expression ‘in the family way’ means pregnant.· a common English expression· I was absolutely knackered, if you’ll pardon the expression (=used when you think someone might be offended by the words you have used).
► idiom a group of words that has a special meaning which you cannot guess from the meanings of each separate word: · ‘Under the weather’ is an idiom which means ‘ill’.
► cliché a phrase that is boring and no longer original because people use it a lot: · The phrase ‘at the end of the day’ has become a real cliché.· There is some truth in the old cliché that time is a great healer.
► saying/proverb a well-known phrase that gives advice about life: · Do you know the saying ‘A problem shared is a problem halved’?· There is an old Chinese proverb which states ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’.
► slogan a short phrase that is easy to remember, especially one that is used in advertising: · advertising slogans· Protesters were shouting anti-government slogans.
► motto a phrase that expresses a person’s or organization’s beliefs and aims: · The school motto was ‘Truth and Honour’.
► word a single group of letters that are used together with a particular meaning: · ‘Casa’ is the Italian word for ‘house’.· I looked up the word in a dictionary.
► name a word that you use for a particular thing, place, organization etc: · Iberia is the ancient name for the Spanish Peninsula.· What’s the name of that type of dog?
► term a word or group of words that is used in a specific subject or area of language: · The medical term for losing your hair is ‘alopecia’.· People use the term ‘carbon footprint’ to talk about man’s polluting effect on the environment.
► phrase a group of words that have a particular meaning when used together, or which someone uses on a particular occasion: · We don’t really have a phrase for ‘bon appétit’ in English.· Politicians keep using the phrase ‘family values’.· an Italian phrase book
► expression a fixed phrase which is used in a language and has a particular meaning: · He uses a lot of obscure expressions that I don’t really understand.· What does the expression ‘wage slavery’ mean?
► buzzword a word or group of words that people in a particular type of work or activity have started using a lot because they think it is important: · E-learning is the buzzword in educational publishing at the moment.· For anthropologists, ethnodiversity has been a buzzword for quite a while.
► idiom a group of words that has a special meaning which you cannot guess from the meanings of each separate word: · ‘Full of beans’ is an idiom which means feeling lively and energetic.
► cliché a group of words that is used so often that it seems rather boring, annoying, or silly: · It’s a bit of a cliché, but good communication skills are the key to success.· the old movie cliché ‘we can’t go on meeting like this’
► slang very informal words used especially by a particular group of people such as young people, criminals, or soldiers: · Grass is slang for marijuana.· prison slang· army slang
► jargon words and phrases used in a particular profession or by a particular group of people, which are difficult for other people to understand – often used to show disapproval: · The instructions were full of technical jargon.· complicated legal jargon
Longman Language Activatora word or group of words► word · Are there any words in the passage that you don't understand?· Look up any words you don't know in a dictionary.· Is 'lunchtime' one word or two?· The word 'origami' comes from Japanese.word for something (=word that means something) · 'Casa' is the Italian word for 'house'.· What's another word for 'way out'?
► phrase a combination of two or more words that has a particular meaning: · There are some useful words and phrases at the end of each chapter in the Student's Book.· Are you familiar with the phrase "the old boy network'?use a phrase: · I was criticized for using the phrase 'gay lifestyles'.· His campaign is, to use one of his favourite phrases, 'as dead as Elvis'.in somebody's phrase (=according to a phrase which someone used): · The battle of El Alamein was, in Churchill's phrase, "the end of the beginning'.coin a phrase (=invent a phrase): · Who first coined the phrase "Iron Curtain'?turn of phrase (=a particular phrase or word that someone uses): · The head of the bank described the salary cuts as 'peanuts', a turn of phrase which angered many bank workers.
► expression a group of words that is used to talk about or say a particular thing: · "It'll be alright in the end' -- that was my mother's favourite expression.· 'Shadow-boxing'? I've never heard that expression before!use an expression: · I don't normally use that expression myself, but I've heard other people use it sometimes.· He said he didn't care -- well actually he used a rude expression that I can't repeat!
► term a word or group of words that are used in a technical or scientific subject and have an exact meaning in that subject: · Mr Hicks used the term 'neighbourhood schools' for what in effect were segregated black schools.· It's very difficult to give a definition of a term like 'cyberspace'.medical/legal/scientific etc term (for something): · The medical term for losing your hair is 'alopecia'.
► idiom a group of words that are used together and have a special meaning that you cannot guess from the meanings of each separate word: · 'Full of beans' is an idiom which means lively and energetic.· In Hollywood, white stars are adopting black idioms, dress styles and manners.
► figure of speech a group of words that are used to describe someone or something in an unusual or poetic way: · We describe our genes as 'selfish' or 'ruthless', but of course this is only a figure of speech.· When I said we spent the night together, it was just a figure of speech. I didn't sleep with her.
► catchword a word or phrase that people use in a particular situation, because it describes what is important in that situation: · Variety will be the catchword at the new venue, with acts ranging from stand-up comedy to poetry readings.· After World War II, the catchword for a newly health-conscious society was 'protein'.
WORD SETS► Linguisticsacronym, nounadage, nounaffricate, nounagglutination, nounalphanumeric, adjectiveanglophone, nounantecedent, nounantonym, nounaphorism, nounarchaism, nounargot, nounaspirate, verbaspirate, nounaspiration, nounassonance, nounbaby talk, nounback, adjectiveback formation, nounbilabial, nounbody language, nouncant, nouncliché, nouncognate, adjectivecognate, nouncollocate, verbcollocation, nouncolloquial, adjectivecombining form, nouncompound, nounconcordance, nounconnotation, nounconsonant, nouncontext, nouncontraction, nouncorpus, noundative, noundeclarative, adjectivedecline, verbdecode, verbdescriptive, adjectivediction, noundiminutive, noundiminutive suffix, noundiphthong, nounelide, verbellipsis, nounelocution, nounemphasis, nounencode, verbenunciate, verb-ese, suffixetymology, nouneuphemism, nouneuphemistic, adjectiveexpression, nounfigurative, adjectivefirst language, nounformal, adjectivefricative, noungender, nounglide, nounglottal stop, nounhard, adjectivehieroglyphics, nounhigh-level, adjectivehomograph, nounhomonym, nounhomophone, nounhyperbole, nounideogram, nounidiolect, nounidiom, nounidiomatic, adjectiveinflection, nounintonation, nounIPA, nounironic, adjectivejargon, nounlabial, nounlanguage, nounlegalese, nounlexical, adjectivelexicography, nounlexicon, nounlexis, nounlingua franca, nounlinguist, nounlinguistic, adjectivelinguistics, nounlip-read, verbloanword, nounlocution, nounlong, adjectivemaxim, nounmetalanguage, nounmispronounce, verbmnemonic, nounmonosyllabic, adjectivemonosyllable, nounmorpheme, nounmorphology, nounnasal, adjectivenasal, nounneologism, nounneutral, adjectivenonce, adjectivenon-standard, adjectivenonverbal, adjectiveofficialese, nounonomatopoeia, nounopen vowel, nounorientalist, nounoxymoron, nounpalindrome, nounparagraph, nounparaphrase, verbparaphrase, nounphilology, nounphoneme, nounphonemics, nounphonetic, adjectivephonetics, nounphonic, adjectivephonology, nounphrasal, adjectivephraseology, nounpidgin, nounplosive, nounpolyglot, adjectivepolysemous, adjectivepolysyllabic, adjectiveportmanteau word, nounpragmatics, nounpreliterate, adjectivepre-verbal, adjectiveprimary stress, nounpronounce, verbpronounceable, adjectivepronunciation, nounproverb, nounpsychobabble, nounReceived Pronunciation, nounrecitation, nounregister, nounretroflex, adjectiveRP, nounschwa, nounsecondary stress, nounsecond language, nounsemantic, adjectivesemantics, nounsemiotics, nounsemi-vowel, nounshort, adjectivesibilant, adjectivesibilant, nounsic, adverbsilent, adjectivesimile, nounslang, nounsound, verbspeech, nounspeech therapy, nounspell, verbspelling, nounspoonerism, nounstandard, adjectivestem, nounstop, nounstress, nounstress, verbstressed, adjectivestress mark, nounstructuralism, nounstylistics, nounsuperlative, nounsyllabic, adjectivesyllable, nounsynonym, nounsynonymous, adjectivetechnical, adjectiveterminology, nounthesaurus, nountone, nountone language, nountoneless, adjectivetongue, nountranscribe, verbtranscription, nountrope, noununpronounceable, adjectiveunstressed, adjectiveunvoiced, adjectiveusage, nounuse, verbuse, nounvelar, adjectivevocabulary, nounvoiceless, adjectivevowel, noun
► see thesaurus at phrase, word2[countable, uncountable] formal or technical a style of expression in writing, speech, or music that is typical of a particular group of people:
the new musical idiom