IELTS Speaking – Compilation of Idioms on the Topic Science and Technology
07 September, 2023IELTS idioms
In the edition of azVocab’s compilation of IELTS Speaking idioms, we are introducing a new topic: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. Let’s explore the idioms below and use them to score well in your exam!
| IDIOMS | MEANING | EXAMPLE |
| A cog in the machine | small, does not bring much value in large organizations and companies | He felt like he was a cog in the machine, so he quit his job and decided to do something different. |
| A flash in the pan | popular for a very brief time | Nintendo’s app Miitomo was just a flash in the pan. No one uses it anymore. |
| A well-oiled machine | works very well or effectively | Sam and I have been working together in the office for so long, we’re like a well-oiled machine at this point. |
| Back to the drawing board | start over | The new dictionary app does not work at all. Guess they’ll have to go back to the drawing board on that one. |
| Not rocket science | not difficult, easy to implement, easy to understand | Have you solved that math problem? It’s not rocket science, you know. |
| Light-years ahead | very advanced in its development | This new technology puts the company light-years ahead of its competitors. |
| The nuts and bolts (of something) | the basic, practical, and factual details of something | The documentary focuses on the real nuts and bolts of the invention and production process. |
| The brainchild of somebody | someone’s brainchild, including an original plan, invention, or idea or intellectual product | The project was the brainchild of one of the students. |
| To reinvent the wheel | to waste time doing things that others have already done | Don’t bother reinventing the wheel with that issue. The other team has already solved the problem. |
| Museum piece | something that is very old-fashioned and should no longer be used | Our television is a museum piece, but it still works. |
| Up and running | If something, especially a system or a machine, is up and running, it is operating | The engineer soon got the air-conditioning up and running again. |
| Open the door to something | to allow something new to start | Technology opens the door for entrepreneurs to achieve the triple bottom line. |
| Take a long, hard look at something | to examine something very closely and thoroughly | After the data breach, the company is going to have to take a long, hard look at its security measures. |
| The ins and outs | the detailed or complicated facts of something | I know how to use computers, but I don’t really understand the ins and outs of how they work. |
| Be jam-packed with something | very full of something | It was the most cutting-edge Apple iPhone available at the time, jam-packed with useful extras like games and productivity apps. |
| Pull the plug | to stop something in its tracks, to stop it immediately | If the viewing figures drop much more, the TV network will probably pull the plug on the whole series. |
| Get your wires crossed | to misunderstand somebody; to become confused | We got our wires crossed and had to change all materials to make this machine. |
| At the cutting edge | at the most modern stage of development in a particular type of work or activity | This is a company at the cutting edge of mobile communications technology. |
| Blind someone with science | to confuse someone by using difficult or technical words to describe something | As a teenage, amateur photographer, I learned all the technical jargon so I could impress people by blinding them with science. |
| Have/Get something down to a science | to be able to do something or understand something very well | I got my routine down to a science so there wouldn’t be any room for error during the performance. |
| Run out of steam | lose momentum, decrease in popularity | To be honest, I think Facebook has run out of steam. Instagram is way more popular these days. |
| Dead as a dodo | out of fashion or out of date | The floppy disk is an invention that is now dead as a dodo. |
We hope that through this article, azVocab can help you acquire the necessary vocabulary and a set of idioms for the IELTS Speaking test in the Science & Technology topic. Study diligently and reap good results in your upcoming exam!
