Here, you will find idioms that start with the letter S.
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Examples Of Idioms Beginning with S
A Shoo-in: something or someone who is certain or very likely to win.
Safe and Sound: to be unharmed or out of danger; not hurt; undamaged.
Salt of the Earth, the: a very good, honest, worthy and reliable person or persons.
Same Old, Same Old: boring, monotonous, predictable, and perhaps annoying situations, activities, or behaviors that occur every day; the same thing that is always done or that always happens.
Save Someone’s Bacon: to rescue someone from a difficult or dangerous situation; to cause someone to escape from being harmed; to save someone from disaster or danger.
Save Something for a Rainy Day: a time of need or trouble, especially when one does not have much money.
Scaredy-Cat: a person who is easily frightened or timid; a person who is afraid to do something dangerous or challenging, a person who won’t do something because they are afraid of getting in trouble.
School of Thought: a particular set of theories, ideas, or opinions; a certain philosophy or way of thinking, especially one held by a group of people.
Screw Up: to do something badly and make a mistake; to fail at something; to mishandle a situation or make the wrong choices.
Secondhand (Second-hand, second hand): something that was passed from its original owner to another person.
See Eye to Eye: to agree with someone; to think alike; to have similar opinions or viewpoints.
Sell Like Hot Cakes: to sell quickly and in large quantities; to be quite commercially successful.
Set the Table: Â to get the dining table ready for a meal, as by laying out plates, silverware, glasses, etc. in the proper arrangement for eating.
Seventh Heaven, in: to be extremely happy, blissful, or in a state of ecstasy; to be completely satisfied.
Shake a Leg: a phrase used to tell someone to move quickly; to dance.
Shape Up: improve or meet a higher standard of performance; improve one’s physical fitness; etc.
Shell Shocked: to be suffering from combat-related PTSD; extremely mentally confused or disoriented; nervous, frightened, or in shock, especially after an unexpected and perhaps traumatic event.
Ship Out: to leave or depart to a faraway place; to go on a navy mission by ship; to send something or export it, by ship or other means.
Ships That Pass In The Night: individuals who know each other, but are not usually in the same place at the same time; in literature, two people who meet and have an intense but short-lived romance, only to part and never see one another again.
Shit Will Hit The Fan: a problem becoming very serious or the consequences of an action or situation occurring with disastrous results.
Shoe is On the Other Foot, the: the situation has been reversed so that the person who was in a better position is now in the worse one; the circumstances of two people have reversed; the situation is now the opposite of what it was before.
Shoot Down: to bring something or someone down with gunfire or other weapons.
Shoot From the Hip: to speak or react impulsively or recklessly without thinking first about the consequences; to speak frankly and directly with no forethought.
Shoot the Breeze: to talk or chat idly, casually, and without purpose about unimportant and ordinary things, just for the sake of spending time together.
Shot in the Dark: a mere unsubstantiated guess based on little to no information; a desperate act or attempt not likely to succeed.
Show Your True Colors, to: to reveal your true character, feelings, and opinions.
Shrinking Violet: an extremely shy or timid person; someone afraid to express their opinions or to assert themselves.
Shut Up: stop speaking; to cause someone to stop speaking; close completely, especially windows or shutters, imprison or lock inside an enclosure.
Sick and Tired: to be extremely weary of something; to be unwilling to tolerate something any longer; etc.
Sick Joke: a joke or anecdote that is in very bad taste of socially inappropriate; a joke that is morbid or perverted; potty humor.
Side Street: a smaller road that carries less traffic adjacent to a the main thoroughfare that more vehicles travel on; a quiet, often more narrow street that leads off of a larger and busier street.
Sight for Sore Eyes, a: something or someone that is extremely pleasant or comforting to look at, especially after a long period of exhaustion or discomfort; something that brings relief or joy, making a person feel better about their situation; etc.
Silver Lining, a: Â a positive outcome or aspect of a bad situation; an unseen benefit or element of hopefulness that comes from something bad that happens to you
Simmer Down: to become calm after being upset, angry, agitated, or excited; to regain one’s composure; etc.
Sisyphean Task: a pointless, fruitless, and unrewarding task that must be repeated over and over again; an endless task.
Sitting Duck: an easy target; someone who is easy to attack or criticize; someone in a very vulnerable position; someone easily caught or found.
Skin and Bones (nothing but):Â to be extremely thin and emaciated.
Sleep A Wink, to not: to not sleep at all; to fail to fall asleep or get any sleep.
Sleep In: to sleep later than usual, usually by choice, such as on the weekends or during a vacation.
Sleep Tight: sleep well; goodnight; sleep soundly.
Slip Someone a Mickey (Finn): to surreptitiously drug someone’s alcoholic drink or to give someone a drink that had been drugged without their knowledge or consent with the intent of incapacitating them.
Slow as Molasses: extremely slow; sluggish; not very fast at all.
Slow-Walk: Â to deliberately delay implementing it;Â to intentionally delay or prevent something from progressing such as by obstructing it, or needlessly prolonging the process.
Small Talk: polite and casual conversation about very unimportant, trivial, or uninteresting topics; chitchat.
Smart Alec: a conceited person who irritates others by always trying to be clever, sarcastic, etc.; a person who insists on showing off their knowledge in a way that is annoying.
Smoking Gun: something that is indisputable evidence of a crime or other wrongdoing.
Snail’s Pace (at a): moving very slowly.
Snake in the Grass: a deceitful, treacherous and sneaky person; one who pretends to be your friend while actually being your enemy in secret.
Snowball Effect: when one situation causes similar events at an ever-increasing rate; something becoming ever larger or important at a continuing rate.
So Far, So Good: to express satisfaction with the way something is progressing up to the present point in time; matters are progressing well up until now.
So What?: why does it matter; of what importance; why should I (you, someone) care?
Sorry To Bother You: to take up someone’s time or annoy them.
Sounds good (great, awesome, fantastic): a phrase to tell someone that you like their plan or suggestion; a response to anything that is good news or that you are happy about.
Sour Grapes: to disparage something that one wants but cannot have by pretending that it was never desirable at all; to pretend to despise something because you are unable to attain it.
Speak of the Devil: when the person that you were just discussing unexpectedly appears.
Spick and Span: to be very neat, clean, and organized; to be perfectly maintained and looking as if new.
Splitting Hairs: to argue about very trivial differences or unimportant details.
Square Deal, a: an equitable bargain or one in which both parties are certain to benefit equally.
Stack the Deck: to arrange things so that a person or group is given an unfair advantage or disadvantage.
Stand On Someone’s Shoulders: to benefit from the previous work of someone in one’s field; to be able to have success or make progress due to someone’s previous discoveries or work; to build on the work of others.
Steal Someone’s Thunder: to use or appropriate another person’s idea and earn the praise that they were expecting; to prematurely announce something that someone else was going to announce, and so get the attention that they were expecting; etc.
Step Outside: to go outside for a brief period.
Step Up to the Plate: to take responsibility for something; to take initiative or take action in response to a crisis or problem; etc.
Stick In Your (or one’s) Throat: something that is impossible to accept or that continues to annoy you; to be unable to say something or to have great difficulty saying it.
Stick to Your Ribs: food that is filling or substantial; to be sustaining.
Stinks To High Heaven: to have a very bad or unpleasant odor; highly corrupt, dishonest, unpleasant, or simply bad.
Stone’s Throw, a: a very short distance.
Stoop To: something that degrades one, is beneath one’s dignity, or that one finds reprehensible.
Stop On A Dime: to stop very quickly or suddenly; to come to a complete and immediate halt.
Straw Poll: an unofficial poll or vote used to see how people feel about an issue or candidate.
Strong Stomach (have a): being able to handle disgusting or disturbing things without being made sick or extremely upset.
Suck Up (to someone): to curry favor or try to win approval by acting obsequiously toward an important person, especially someone who could advance one’s career or standing.
Sugar Daddy: an older or elderly man, usually wealthy or well-to-do, who buys lavish gifts and/or monetarily supports a much younger woman so that she will provide him companionship and sexual favors.
Sugarcoat: to explain or present something in a way that makes it seem more positive or pleasant than it really is; to attempt to make a subject more acceptable or less fraught or complicated by presenting it in a pleasant-but-inaccurate way; etc.
Sure (Thank You Response): a very informal way to respond to someone saying thanks; a less formal version of ‘you’re welcome’.
Surefire: something bound to be effective or bring results; certain and infallible; very likely (to be successful).
Sweep Something Under the Rug: to hide a problem or something unpleasant from other people, either to deal with it later or simply to ignore it.
Swing By: to visit a place casually; to stop at a place quickly; etc.
