Idioms are a colourful and fascinating aspect of English. They are commonly used in all types of language, informal and formal, spoken and written. Your language skills will increase rapidly if you can understand idioms and use them confidently and correctly. One of the main problems students have with idioms is that it is often impossible to guess the meaning of an idiom from the words it contains. In addition, idioms often have a stronger meaning than non-idiomatic phrases. For example, look daggers at someone has more emphasis than look angrily at someone, but they mean the same thing. Idioms may also suggest a particular attitude of the person using them, for example disapproval, humour, exasperation or admiration, so you must use them carefully.

The Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms explains the meaning and use of around 7,000 idioms in a clear and helpful way. It is a truly international dictionary: it covers current British, American and Australian idioms.
It includes:
- traditional idioms (e.g. turn a blind eye to sth, throw the baby out with the bathwater)
- idiomatic compounds (e.g. fall guy, turkey shoot)
- similes and comparisons (e.g. as dull as ditchwater, swear like a trooper)
- exclamations and sayings (e.g. Bully for you!. Over my dead body!)
- cliches (e.g. all part of life's rich tapestry, There's many a true word spoken in jest.)

The definitions are clear and precise. They have been written using a carefully controlled defining vocabulary of under 2, 000 words. Every idiom is illustrated with examples based on sentences from the Cambridge International Corpus. This means that all of the examples reflect natural written and spoken English. Information about grammar is shown clearly, without complicated grammar codes. The origins of idioms are explained, where appropriate, to help understanding.