Top 20 Most Popular Business Idioms in English
Idioms are widely used in English — they are common, expressive, and make your speech more emotional and vivid. In business communication, idioms are also natural and commonly used.
Based on current trends in professional language use, we are ready to present to you the top 20 most common idioms in Business English this year.
1. Move the needle — to cause a significant change or make meaningful progress toward a goal: We need a campaign that will really move the needle.
2. Touch base — to talk briefly with someone: Let’s touch base tomorrow morning.
3. Think outside the box — to think imaginatively using new ideas instead of traditional ideas: We need to think outside the box to stay competitive.
4. Game changer — someone or something that affects the result of a game very much: No one can deny that social media has become a real game-changer for marketing.
5. In a nutshell – very briefly, giving only the main points: "What went wrong?" "In a nutshell, everything."
6. On the same page — to have a shared understanding, agreement, or alignment with others: Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page before launching.
7. In the loop / Out of the loop — to have or not have the special knowledge or power that belongs to a particular group of people: Keep me in the loop on the updates.
8. Circle back — to return to a previous topic or issue: We'll circle back to your proposal once we've heard from all the candidates.
9. Raise the bar — to set a higher standard for something by doing something very well: They are integrating technology in new and creative ways at their colleges and universities, raising the bar for all schools.
10. At the end of the day — in the end, or when everything is considered: Of course, I'll listen to what she has to say but at the end of the day, it's my decision.
11. Low-hanging fruit — the most easily achieved of a set of tasks, measures, goals, etc.: When cutting costs, many companies start with the low-hanging fruit: their ad budgets.
12. Cut corners — to do something in the easiest, shortest, or cheapest way, harming the quality as a result: The deadline is tight, but we can’t cut corners — this project must be done properly.
13. Ground-breaking — something new and innovative, absolutely different from other things of its type: Their ground-breaking approach to digital transformation became a benchmark for other companies.
14. Go the extra mile — to make more effort than is expected of you: She really went the extra mile on the presentation — the client was impressed.
15. Go by the book — to do things exactly as the rules say they should be done: This project involves multiple stakeholders, so we need to go by the book at every stage.
16. Get down to business — to get to the point, to start talking about the subject to be discussed: If the introductions are over, I'd like to get down to business.
17. Behind the scenes — out of sight of the public, secretly: Our marketing team works behind the scenes to make every product launch look effortless.
18. Hit the ground running — to immediately work hard and successfully at a new activity: When he joined the sales team, he hit the ground running and closed two deals in his first few days.
19. Get the ball rolling — to start doing something in order to encourage other people to do the same: Let’s get the ball rolling by outlining the key goals for this quarter’s project.
20. A win-win situation — a result or situation that is good for everyone who is involved: For employers, allowing staff to work from home has proved a win-win situation.
Of course, there are many more interesting business idioms in English that are worth your attention. Learn them gradually and be sure to use them in your speech, regularly expanding your vocabulary.
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- How to quickly learn and memorize English words
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