Idioms Beginning with F

Here, you will find idioms that start with F.

A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z

Examples of Idioms Beginning With F

Face It: Face it means to be honest and admit and accept unpleasant facts; accept reality even though it is difficult to accept; look at things as they really are.

Facts of Life: a euphemism for the facts about human sexual reproduction, similar to the ‘birds and the bees.’; Unpleasant truths about the way the world works which cannot be changed and which people must learn to accept.

Fair-Weather Friend: a friend who is with you during the good times but abandons you when things go wrong. In other words, it is the kind of friend who cannot be relied upon during bad times or a crisis.

Fall Off the Wagon: To be on the wagon means to be abstaining from alcohol or drugs, especially when one has an alcohol abuse problem. To fall off the wagon is to resume drinking after some period of time of abstaining.

Fan the Flames: to cause an emotion, especially a negative one, to become stronger; to incite someone to increase negative activities by causing them to become more aggravated; to aggravate the tension in a situation or to make a situation more extreme.

Feast or Famine: Feast or famine means either too much or too little of something, too many or too few. It describes extremes of wealth or poverty; great availability or complete lack.

Fed Up (With Something): To be fed up with something means to be tired of it occurring and wanting it to stop; to be unable to tolerate something any longer; to be frustrated, highly annoyed, disgusted, or angered over something.

Fine and Dandy: excellent, fine, well, good, nice, all right, etc.

Firsthand (first-hand, first hand): Firsthand information is information is information that comes directly from the source or origin, without any intermediary source.

Fish Or Cut Bait: either do something useful or get out of the way; either proceed with an activity or abandon it completely; stop being indecisive; either do what you say you are going to do or make yourself useful in some other task or activity.

Fish Out of Water: A person who is a fish out of water feels unhappy and uncomfortable because they are in an unfamiliar situation, especially one in which they feel different than the people around them.

Fit as a Fiddle: to be fit as a fiddle means to be in extremely good health. It may sometimes mean to have good physical conditioning or to be healthy and fit.

Fit To Be Tied: very angry or upset; outraged; furious; agitated; very worried; anxious, or upset.

Five-finger Discount: A five-finger discount refers to an act of shoplifting or stealing from a retail shop.

Flash in the Pan, a: a sudden success or effort that which is brief and unlikely to happen again.

Flat Broke: to be flat broke means to be have no money at all; to be penniless; to have run out of funds. Variations of ‘flat broke’ are dead broke, stone broke, and stony broke.

Flight of Fancy: a very imaginative but unrealistic or fantastic idea. This idiom is similar to a ‘pipe dream’ but with a greater connotation of fantasy.

Flip Out: To flip out is similar to another very common English idiom, to freak out. It means to suddenly become very excited, frightened, upset, agitated, especially in a visible way; to lose control of oneself.

Fly in the Ointment, a:  a small event, circumstance, or factor that spoils an entire endeavor, circumstance, reputation, etc.

Fly Off the Handle: to lose one’s temper; to become enraged.

Food For Thought: something, such as an idea, that is worth thinking about or considering; something that is worthy of serious consideration or careful pondering so that you understand it fully.

Foot the Bill: To foot the bill means to pay all the cost of something; to pay the bill in a restaurant or pay the tab in a bar; to pay for the expenses of others; to pay for damage caused by others or expenses caused by others.

For a Song: For a song means cheaply; for a very low price.

For Curiosity’s Sake | Just Out of Curiosity: When you do something for curiosity’s sake, you are doing it because of personal interest or simple curiosity with no practical purpose or concrete reason in mind; something done to satisfy one’s curiosity.

For Good: permanently; forever; for the last time; finally.

For My Money: in my opinion; my preference; or my choice.

For the Birds: If something is for the birds it is without value; undesirable; stupid; boring; foolish; ridiculous; unimportant; uninteresting; deserving of disdain.

For the Hell of It: for no particular reason or purpose; just for fun; on a whim.

For the Love of Mike: an expression of exasperation, surprise, anger, impatience, dismay, etc. It is also used to add force or emphasis to a statement, often an imperative. A toned-down version of “for the love of God.”

For the Most Part: For the most part means in general; usually; mostly.

Fox Guarding the Henhouse: When a fox is guarding the henhouse, a person is placed in a position where they will use it for personal gain, to harm people, or to act out personal vendettas. Therefore, the innocent are placed in harm’s way.

Frame of Mind: A person’s frame of mind is their emotional mood or their particular attitude or outlook; a person’s mental state; a person’s way of thinking, especially about a particular thing.

Friends in High Places: To have friends in high places means to have friends who are in a position of authority who can help you get things you want; friends who can help or support one in important matters because they have an important position.

From A to Z: thoroughly, completely, including everything; from the beginning to the end.

From Rags To Riches: Rags to riches is a way of describing a person who starts out in extreme poverty then becomes very wealthy.

From the Cradle to the Grave: from birth to death; the entire period of one’s life; throughout one’s life.

From the Ground Up: from the very beginning, starting with nothing; completely; thoroughly.

From Your Lips to God’s Ears: When we say ‘from your lips to God’s ears‘ we mean that we hope that something someone has said will come true; a hope that God will hear what has been said and make it happen; may what you just said come to pass.

Full Of Yourself: to be pompous, self-centered, arrogant, conceited, etc.; to have an exaggerated sense of self-importance and to think you are special; to have an inflated opinion of yourself.

Full-Court Press: A full court press, when used as an idiom, refers to applying aggressive tactics using all the resources at your disposal to exert maximum pressure in order to achieve some desired outcome.

Funny Bone: although it is not an actual bone, the funny bone is a point on the human body where the ulnar nerve in the back of the elbow above the joint runs close to the humerus (upper arm bone) and lacks the protection is has along the rest of its length. When this area is impacted, such as by banging the elbow against the edge of furniture, the nerve can be smashed against the bone, resulting in tingling, numbness, and pain that radiates down the forearm into the ring and middle fingers; a funny bone can also mean a sense of humor. When someone has a good funny bone he has a good sense of humor.