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Language is a colorful tapestry of expressions, and idioms add vibrant strokes to our conversations. When we talk about color idioms, we're referring to phrases that incorporate color to convey a particular meaning. These expressions have woven their way into our everyday language, painting imagery with words to capture emotions, situations, and characteristics with an added layer of descriptive color.

Color Idioms

What Are Color Idioms?

Color idioms are expressions where colors are used metaphorically to convey meanings not directly linked to the actual color. These idioms permeate everyday language, often describing feelings, situations, or characteristics vividly and succinctly. For instance:

White lie: A harmless or small lie told to avoid hurting someone's feelings.

Black sheep: A person who is considered a disgrace or embarrassment to a particular group or family. Example: He always felt like the black sheep in his family because he was the only one who didn't go to college.

Origins of Color Idioms

The origins of color idioms are as diverse as the idioms themselves, often stemming from historical contexts, cultural practices, or universal human experiences. Here are a couple of origins to ponder:

Red tape: This idiom originated from the red tape that was used to bind official documents, symbolizing the convoluted process in bureaucratic systems.

Green with envy: This perhaps derives from the facial pallor that can occur when one is feeling unwell, which might have a greenish hue, thus associating it with the negative emotion of envy.

Color Idioms with Meanings and Examples

Color Idioms With Meanings

Paint the town red

To go out and have a wild or lively time

See red

To become very angry

In the red

To be in debt or operating at a loss

Golden opportunity

A very favorable chance or opportunity

Silver lining

A positive aspect in a negative situation

Purple prose

Writing that is overly elaborate or ornate

On a silver platter

To receive something without having to work for it

Green light

Permission to proceed with a project or plan

Black and white

Clearly defined or straightforward

Red tape

Bureaucratic procedures and paperwork

Green with envy

Very jealous or envious.

Red-handed

Caught in the act of doing something wrong.

Black sheep

A member of a family or group who is member of a family or group who is regarded as a disgrace or is the least favored. regarded as a disgrace or is the least favored.

White lie

A harmless or trivial lie, often told to avoid hurting someone's feelings or for convenience.

Blue in the face

Exhausted from great, often futile effort or argument; can also mean to do something intensely.

Yellow-bellied

Cowardly or fearful.

Pink slip

A notice of dismissal from employment.

Grey area

A topic that is not clearly one thing or the other, ambiguous, or lacking a clear-cut distinction.

Brownie points

Informal recognition for a good deed or effort, often for the sake of personal gain in favor.

Out of the blue

Something happening unexpectedly or without warning.

Color Idioms with Example Sentences

Color Idioms in English by Topics

English is rich with colorful idioms that paint our conversations with vibrancy and imagery. These idioms often carry meanings that extend far beyond the literal hues they mention. Here's a categorized compilation of color idioms in English, grouped by various topics:

Emotions and States of Being

Feeling Blue:

Red with Rage:

Green with Envy:

In the Pink:

Tickled Pink:

Business and Work

White-Collar:

Blue-Collar:

Golden Opportunity:

Red Tape:

In the Black:

Relationships and Social Situations

Red-Letter Day:

White Lie:

Give Someone the Green Light:

Black Sheep:

Success and Failure

Out of the Blue:

Green Around the Gills:

Golden Handshake:

Silver Lining:

White Elephant:

Honesty and Dishonesty

True Colors:

White as Snow:

Black Market:

Red Herring:

Caught Red-Handed:

Miscellaneous

Once in a Blue Moon:

Green Thumb:

Black and White:

Caution and Warning

Yellow-Bellied:

Red Flag:

Code Red:

Miscellaneous Expressions

Paint the Town Red:

With Flying Colors:

Green Light:

Grey Area:
Blue Ribbon:

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45+ Color Idioms in English with Definitions and Examples

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Language is a colorful tapestry of expressions, and idioms add vibrant strokes to our conversations. When we talk about color idioms, we're referring to phrases that incorporate color to convey a particular meaning. These expressions have woven their way into our everyday language, painting imagery with words to capture emotions, situations, and characteristics with an [...]

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This exercise tests your understanding of color idioms in English. Fill in the blanks.

Answers

1. Yesterday's black out was due to unexpected problems with electricity production.

2. Susie will go green with envy when she sees your new car.

3. He is not the kind of guy you can depend on when you are in trouble. He's yellow.

4. A lot of people want to adopt babies. It is the red tape that discourages them.

5. James was neither brilliant nor hardworking. His Dad always treated him like a black sheep.

6. Mr. Mathews is going to take over as the next chairman. Be sure to roll out the red carpet when he arrives.

7. They have just purchased a new home in the green belt.

8. The situation is not as black and white as you think.

9. I'm feeling rather blue these days. Have you got something to cheer me up?

10. He had to tell a white lie to escape his mother's punishment.

11. The civil authority has given the green light to the project.

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This exercise tests your understanding of color idioms in English. Fill in the blanks. 1. Yesterday's black out was due to unexpected problems with electricity production. 2. Susie will go green with envy when she sees your new car. 3. He is not the kind of guy you can depend on when you are in trouble.

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Comparison exercises: positive, comparative, superlative - write. Interactive exercises about comparative adjectives. Elementary and intermediate level - esl.

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Teach comparative adjectives with this fun comparatives activity. Students will see an adjective and its comparative form. Then students will see a picture and must guess what it is. Next students should use the word to make a comparative sentence in English. This is great for introducing or reviewing comparative adjectives with beginner English language learners. This activity is absolutely FREE. Simply show this video in class from this page or from our YouTube Channel.

See below for instructions on how to play, and for related resources.

Comparative Adjectives Activity

To play this game, simply show the video in class. There are ten rounds. In each round students will see an adjective and its comparative form. Then students will see a hidden picture and must guess what it is. Next, students should make a comparative sentence in English. Comparative adjectives include bigger, smaller, faster, slower, heavier, hotter, stronger, taller, shorter, and healthier.

Related Resources
Comparatives Quiz
Comparatives Songs
Comparative and Superlative Activities
Comparatives And Superlatives Questions
List Of Comparatives And Superlatives

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Fun Comparative Adjectives Activity | Games4esl

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Teach comparative adjectives with this fun comparatives activity. Students will see an adjective and its comparative form. Then students will see a picture and must guess what it is. Next students should use the word to make a comparative sentence in English. This is great for introducing or reviewing comparative adjectives with beginner English language learners.

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Exercises Explanation Downloads

Comparative adjectives - older than, more important than, etc.

Exercise 1

Write the opposite of these adjectives. Use the comparative form of adjectives in the box below.

bad - big - difficult - expensive - far - fat - happy - hot - old - short

Comparative adjectives

We use more + adjective + than or adjective + -er + than to compare things or people.

In this chart you can see when we need to use more ... than or -er than and the changes in spelling.

Two things

We use the comparative form of an adjective to compare two things.

Less ... than

When we compare two things, we can also use the form less + adjective + than (less ≠ more).

Than me

If we use a personal pronoun after than we need an object pronoun ( me, you, him, etc.).

My sister is taller than me.

His sister is more intelligent than him.

Much/a bit + more

Before the comparative ( more or -er) we can use much (=big difference) or a bit (=small difference).

Common mistakes!

More or -er

We use more or - er, but we cannot use more + -er.

My brother is taller than me. (NOT My brother is more taller that me.)

More than (NOT that)

After a comparative adjective, we use than and NOT that.

My brother is taller than me. (NOT My brother is taller that me.)

Than + second element of the comparison

We use than + the second thing that we are comparing. When we don't mention the second element of the comparison, we do NOT use than.

My brother is taller than me .

I am tall, but my brother is taller. (NOT my brother is taller than.)

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Comparative adjectives – older than, more important than, etc. - Test-English

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Comparative adjectives . We use ‘more’ + adjective or adjective + -er to compare two things. A1 – Elementary English grammar and exercises.

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Learning Resources (Quiz): COMPARATIVES (comparatives) - Comparatives adjectives

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Wordwall - Cree mejores lecciones de forma más rápida

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Wordwall - Crea mejores lecciones de forma más rápida

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Cuestionario - Una serie de preguntas de opción múltiple. Pulsa la respuesta correcta para continuar.

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Conversation 1

Man: How is your new job?
Woman: Okay, but it is not as fun as my last job.
Man: Oh, really? Why?
Woman: Well, there are not as many social events, and it is not as chill as my last job.
Man: Oh, no, that's too bad. What about pay and benefits?
Woman: I earn about as much as before, but I had better benefits.
Man: Well, so it's not all bad.

Conversation 2

Man: I hear you got a new house.
Woman: I did. We just moved in last week.
Man: How is it?
Woman: Good. It is not as big as my last place, but it is cheaper.
Man: How is the neighborhood?
Woman: It is not as convenient as my last place, but I like it.

Conversation 3

Man: Can you pick up my friend at the airport? I have to work tonight.
Woman: Sure, I can do that. What does he look like?
Man: Well, he's about as tall as me, and he has blonde hair. It's the same color as mine.
Woman: Wow, he sounds like your twin.
Man: No, I am not nearly as handsome as he is. You'll see.
Woman: I'll be the judge of that.

Conversation 4

Man: How's the new cafe?
Woman: Not good. It's not as good as the last one.
Man: How are the prices?
Woman: About the same, but the coffee is not as good as before.
Man: Oh, no. I'm bummed to hear that.
Woman: There is one good thing, though.
Man: Oh, yeah. What's that?
Woman: Well, because the quality has dropped off, it's not nearly as crowded as before, so it's easy to find a seat.
Man: Well, at least that's good.

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ESL students and teachers can access free listening lessons that come with audio, script, quiz and vocabulary support.

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Read through the text about a circus, then answer the questions below.

The Rodriguez Brothers Circus is in town! Every year, the circus arrives and stays for a week. Then they go to the next town.

There are not many animals in the circus. People told the circus that they didn't like seeing animals performing. There is an elephant called Jacob and two old lions, Hattie and Meg.

Most of the performers are human! There is Leopold, The Strongest Man In The World. His father also worked in the circus, but Leopold is stronger than him, he has bigger arms and bigger legs too! Leopold performs his act every night for the town's people who come to watch.

Another performer is Clara. She says she has the longest hair in the world. It's about 4 metres long! She also has a daughter who works in the circus. Her name is Sue-Ellen. Her hair is a lot shorter, but she wants to grow it as long as her mother's. Sue-Ellen helps look after the animals and she's also learning how to juggle.

The highlight of the circus are the three clowns, Pit, Pot and Pat. They all wear long red shoes, but Pat's shoes are the longest and sometimes, he falls over because they're so long! They perform for about twenty minutes and they are always the most popular act with the audience, especially the children. Many people think Pit, Pot and Pat are three brothers, but Pat is older than the other two - he's their father! He's the oldest clown in the country, but he has a lot of energy.

Tomorrow will be the longest day because the circus is leaving town and everything must be packed away into big trucks.

Where Now?

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the circus: superlatives and comparatives

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Pre-Intermediate Reading | The Circus: Superlatives and Comparatives | esl-lounge Student

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The Circus: Superlatives and Comparatives

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Comparison of adjectives with as... as/‌not as... as

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English Grammar Exercise - Comparison of adjectives with as... as/‌not as... as|Use either as... as or not as... as in the sentences below.

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Present continuous exercises - forms and pronouns. Present progressive. Elementary level esl.

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Exercises Explanation Downloads

Present continuous - I'm doing, I'm not doing, Are you doing?

Exercise 1

Write positive or negative sentences in present continuous using the verbs in brackets. Use SHORT FORMS when possible.

Present continuous - Form

We form the present continuous with am/is/are + the -ing form of the verb.

She is listening to the radio.

They are doing their homework.

The short forms of am/is/are are: 'm/'s/'re.

The negative short forms of am not/is not/are not are: 'm not/isn't/aren't.

Note that we can use short forms only in negative short answers, but not in positive short answers.

'Are you writing a book?' 'Yes, I am.' (NOT Yes, I'm.)

Actions happening now

We use the present continuous for things happening now, at the moment of speaking.

'What are you doing?' 'I'm watching TV.'

Actions happening around now

We use the present continuous for temporary things that are happening around now (=not at the moment of speaking but these days, or weeks, etc.)

Now, these days, at the moment, etc.

We use the present continuous with time expressions that mean 'now' or 'around now': now, at the moment, at present, today, these days, this week, etc.

We are working on this!

We're developing a NEW LEARNING PLATFORM with a subscription plan that includes additional features at an affordable price. One of those features will be PDF downloads.

Learn more!

Personalized English Lessons

Test-English is delighted to announce our partnership with Gymglish to deliver short, personalized and fun online English lessons.

Learn more!

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Present continuous - I'm doing, I'm not doing, Are you doing? - Test-English

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Present continuous - I'm doing, I'm not doing, Are you doing? Actions happening now. A1 - Elementary English grammar and exercises.

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn – any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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Wordwall - Crea mejores lecciones de forma más rápida

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1) She ______ when the shark attacked her. a) surfed b) was surfing 2) He was dancing at a party when he _____ his friend. a) met b) was meeting 3) I ___ a picnic when it started raining. a) had b) was having 4) They _____ the storm while they were swimming in the sea. a) saw b) was seeing 5) Susan _____ while we were having dinner. a) arrived b) was arriving 6) He _____ football when he broke his leg. a) played b) was playing 7) While I was waiting for my friend, the bus ___. a) arrived b) was arriving. 8) When I got home, my mum _____. a) cooked b) was cooking.

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1) She ______ when the shark attacked her. 2) He was dancing at a party when he _____ his friend. 3) I ___ a picnic when it started raining.

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Wordwall - Crea mejores lecciones de forma más rápida

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While the airplane was landing, I took a photo of the sky. , While my brothers were swimming in the river, they got lost. , The passengers were disembarking when it began raining., While my parents were cooking, they heard a strange noise., While my sister was riding her bike, she fell off., My dad was driving his car when he had an accident., Petaco was eating when it started to rain., The teacher was working when her phone rang.,

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While the airplane was landing, I took a photo of the sky. , While my brothers were swimming in the river, they got lost. .

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Wordwall - Crea mejores lecciones de forma más rápida

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1) You _______________ TV a) was watching b) were watching c) was watch d) watching 2) They _________ to techno music. a) was listening b) was listen c) were listening d) were listen 3) He _________ in the office a) was working b) were working c) working d) worked 4) I ________ the phone a) were answering b) was answer c) was answering d) answering 5) My family and I ________ London a) was visit b) was visiting c) visiting d) were visiting 6) I ________ with Paul a) wasn't dancing b) wasn't dance c) weren't dancing d) dancing 7) You ______ the drums a) was playing b) were playing c) playing d) play 8) It _______ a) was raining b) raining c) were raining d) was rain 9) Peter _______ for the bus a) wasn't wait b) weren't wait c) wasn't waiting d) weren't waiting 10) I _________ my homework a) were doing b) were do c) was doing d) was do 11) Lucy and Mary _______ a) was talking b) were talking c) were talk d) talking 12) The passengers ______ a) was disembarking b) were disembarking c) disembark d) disembarking 13) The aircraft ______ a) was taking off. b) was landing c) was banking d) was taxiing 14) The flight attendant ______ to the passengers. a) was talking b) was reading c) was walking d) talking