20 Business English Idioms

20 Business English Idioms

Hello English learners! English is the world’s number one language of communication and it is no wonder that people use it for their work and business correspondence and communication worldwide. We use English for meetings, presentations, negotiations, socializing, writing emails, reports, and so on. The better you understand and speak English the more your confidence will grow. In today’s lesson, we will look at 20 business English idioms you must know.

1. Ballpark number/figure
2. Back to square one
3. Big picture
4. Blue/white collar
5. By the book
6. Call it a day
7. Cut corners
8. Get down to business
9. Get the ball rolling
10. Give the thumbs up/down
11. Go the extra mile
12. Groundbreaking
13. In the red/black
14. Keep your eye on the ball
15. Learn the ropes
16. No brainer
17. Put all your eggs in one basket
18. Red tape
19. The sky is the limit
20. Take the bull by the horns

Ballpark number/figure

Meaning: an approximate quantity or number.

Could you give us a ballpark figure for the sales?

Back to square one

Meaning: to start doing something from the beginning.

After the war in the country, their business went back to square one.

Big picture

Meaning: if you see a big picture, you see the most important aspects of the situation.

Sometimes we need to forget about the details and take a look at the big picture.

Blue/white collar

Meaning: White collar workers are people who work in the offices while blue collar ones are people employed as manual labour.

The company was a blue collar one, mostly factory workers worked in it.

Their administration consisted of 300 white collar workers.

By the book

Meaning: if you do something by the book, you do it exactly as the law and regulations tell you.

Please make sure you do everything by the book.

Call it a day

Meaning: to call it a day means to stop working for the day.

I’m tired. Let’s call it a day and go home.

Cut corners

Meaning: to cut corners means to find easier or cheaper ways to do something.

Building companies know how to cut corners on material.

Get down to business

Meaning:  to concentrate on business and start dealing with the problems.

Please, stop talking. Let’s get down to business.

Get the ball rolling

Meaning: to get the ball rolling means to do something to start working on a project or a new product, etc.

We expect to get the ball rolling when we launch the new product at the fair next week.

Give the thumbs up/down

Meaning: if you give your thumbs up you approve it, but if you give your thumbs down you deny approval.

Over 70% of the board must give their thumbs up for the proposal to be accepted.

Is it possible that they gave us the thumbs down? I thought they liked the idea.

Go the extra mile

Meaning: to make an extra effort and do more than you are expected.

Our staff is kind and polite and always ready to go the extra mile for our customers.

Groundbreaking

Meaning: if something is groundbreaking, it is new, original and innovative.

That new piece of device is a groundbreaking invention.

In the red/black

Meaning: if your account is in the red, you are losing money; if it is in the black, you are making a profit.

After a few months in the red, the company finally started making money.

We haven’t made much money recently but at least we are in the black.

Keep your eye on the ball

Meaning: to stay focused on the thing you are doing.

The golden rule of profitable business is to keep your eye on the ball.

Learn the ropes

Meaning: to learn the ropes means to learn how to do a job.

Once you learn the ropes, you will no longer be new in the business.

No brainer

Meaning: something very simple and easy to do or understand.

Accepting the job offer was a no brainer for Michael.

Put all your eggs in one basket

Meaning: to rely on only one thing in order to become successful so that you do not have any other plans.

You should invest in more things than one. It is not very wise to put all your eggs in one basket.

Red tape

Meaning: complicated official rules and processes that delay things and make them difficult.

The new regulations are creating a lot of red tape and we expect to give a lot more money to our lawyers.

The sky is the limit

Meaning: used to say that anything is achievable.

The sky is the limit on how much data you can store on this disc.

Take the bull by the horns

Meaning: to deal directly with a difficult situation.

Our sales manager was very impolite with the customers so we decided to take the bulls by the horns and fired him.

Business English Idioms