IELTS Speaking – Compilation of Idioms on the Topic: Business and Economics
30 October, 2023IELTS idioms
![Idioms for IELTS Speaking Business and Economics](https://blog.azvocab.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Idioms-for-IELTS-Speaking-Business-and-Economics.png)
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. |
Here are idioms on the Business and Economics topic. Let’s continue exploring idioms on other topics with azVocab in the next posts.