IELTS Speaking – Compilation of Idioms on the Topic: Business and Economics

30 October, 2023IELTS idioms

Idioms for IELTS Speaking Business and Economics

In English, besides using collocations to make your speech more natural and engaging, idioms are also frequently used in everyday communication. This is why for those of you preparing for the IELTS exam and aiming for a high score in this section, you definitely can’t overlook this factor. Incorporating idioms into your test can help you score extra points in the eyes of the examiners!

azVocab categorizes idioms by different topics, and this time, it’s idioms related to Business and Economics.

IDIOMS	MEANING	EXAMPLE
A foot in the door	to enter a business or organization at a low level, but with a chance of being more successful in the future	I have worked for this computer company for 15 years but it took me 2 years to get *a foot in the door*.
Cash cow	a business, investment, or product that provides a steady income or profit	This product will be our company’s *cash cow*.
Too many chiefs, not enough Indians	too many managers, and not enough people to do the work	There are *too many chiefs and not enough Indians* in this enterprise.
Eager beaver	a person who is willing to work very hard	John is an *eager beaver.* He will get on well with the new job.
A slice of the pie	part of the profit or benefit from something	The company made big profits and the workers want a *slice of the pie*.
Go belly up	if a company or plan goes belly up, it fails	Last year the business *went belly up* after sales continued to fall.
Golden handshake	a payment given to someone who is laid off or retires early	When Tom left the company he was given a *golden handshake*.
Grease someone’s palm	to secretly give someone money in order to persuade them to do something for you	There are rumors that the company had to *grease someone’s palms* to get that contract.
Hold the fort	to have responsibility for something while someone else is absent	My boss will be on vacation next week and I’ll have to *hold the fort*.
Keep one’s head above water	to just be able to manage, especially when you have financial difficulties	I’m not sure if John can *keep his head above water* in such a bad situation.
Red tape	official rules and processes that seem unnecessary and delay results	If you want to start a business, you will have to go through endless *red tape*.
Sell ice to Eskimos	to persuade people to go against their best interests or to accept something unnecessary or preposterous	John is a great salesman. He can *sell ice to Eskimos*.
A sleeping partner	a partner in a company who does not take an active part in its management, especially one who provides some of the money	Tom is so happy ‘cause he’s just found *a sleeping partner*.
Walking paper	if you give someone their walking papers, you ask that person to leave a place or a job because they have done something wrong	Alice is very upset. She was given a *walking paper* yesterday without prior notice.
A dead duck	a person or thing that is defunct or has no chance of success	We shouldn’t waste time on this plan. It’s certainly *a dead duck*.
Be in the red	if you or your bank account are in the red, you owe money to the bank	She has spent all of her money on the new car, and she *is in the red* now.
In the black	earning more money than you spend	We hope the company can handle the current economic crisis and become *in the black* in the next six months.
Strike it rich	to become rich suddenly and unexpectedly	If I won the lottery and *struck it rich,* I would quit my job right away, but there’s no such luck.
Be rolling in money	to be extremely rich	My uncle has been managing three companies in France at the same time, he must *be rolling in money.*
Go broke	to risk everything in the hope of having great success	I went broke after losing all my money in the game.
Make ends meet	to have just enough money to pay for the things that you need	During Covid 19 pandemic, my mom had to work extremely hard to *make ends meet.*
Coin it (in)	to earn or accumulate wealth rapidly	Every time I went to the restaurant it was fully booked. Its owner must be *coining it in*.
Splash out on something	to spend money freely	I hardly *splash out on something,* but the dress will be a good value for my money.
Live within one’s means	to spend money only on what one can afford	You should *live within your means*, otherwise, you will end up in debt.
Bread and butter	a job or activity that provides you with the money you need to live	Singing is my only *bread and butter* now. I don’t know how I would survive without it.
Give someone/ something the green light	to give permission for someone to do something or for something to happen	After a few meetings, our boss finally *gave us the green light* to implement the new promotion strategy.
Piece of the action	a part of the profits or advantages that come from an activity	The project was so challenging that everyone in the company wanted a *piece of the action.*
Pave the way	if something paves the way for/to something else, it makes the other thing possible	The new product was used to *pave the way* for our conquest of a new market.
Ballpark figure	a rough numerical estimate or approximation of the value of something that is otherwise unknown	The real estate agent was so disappointed because the contractor gave them such a *ballpark figure*.
Take a nosedive	a sudden fast fall in prices	Our share price on Friday *took a nosedive* after the controversial government bill was passed.
Take/get a hammering	to decrease suddenly and by a large amount in price or value	Profits will take a hammering* when cheap copycat products come onto the market.*
Stumbling stock	something that prevents action or agreement	The major *stumbling stock* to the completion of this building was the sudden increase in material expenses.
Bang for the buck	value in return for your money	The company was able to receive a *bang for the buck* after it advertised the new product online for little cost and attracted 10,000 orders.
Dodge the issue	to avoid or evade talking about some topic directly or at all	Instead of *dodging the issue*, we need to directly address it.
Sell like hotcakes	to be bought quickly and in large numbers	As the Christmas season is approaching, our home decoration products *sell like hotcakes.*
Bean counter	an accountant, especially one who works for a large company and does not like to allow employees to spend money	Our *bean counter* decided to sell all the TV screens in the meeting room because he saw them as an unnecessary expense.
Red ink	a situation in which a company is losing a lot of money	As our partner banks went insolvent, our operations in Europe were thrown into *red ink.*
Fall through the floor	to decrease in price or value, usually in a short period of time	Sales and profits are falling through the floor, with no prospect of a recovery in sight.
Get in on the ground floor	to become involved from the beginning in a business activity that you think will be successful	This is our chance to get in on the ground floor* of an industry that’s going to be big.*
Shut up shop	to end an activity, usually a business activity, either temporarily or permanently	The owner always shuts up shop* for two weeks in the summer to accommodate her vacation.*