Writing & Content Creation

30 Idioms From Pandemic News to Sound Like a Native English Speaker

Yes, coronavirus can help to improve your English

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Life would be so much easier if we could just shift our word usage to sound exactly like native English speakers. While achieving native-level fluency is a lofty goal, there are many small steps and tips we can take to sound more native ourselves.

You’ll have to put in some hard work. But it might not be as hard as you think. In this post, I’ll share 30 idioms I’ve collected from pandemic news that could be used not only to improve your language skills but as an uplifting truth to bring more optimism into your life in times of crisis.

Idioms are a type of figurative language. They don’t always make sense literally, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the meaning and usage of each one. Learning idioms is fun, especially when you compare English idioms to the idioms in your native language. Let’s practice.

1. Skeleton crew

Meaning: The minimum number of people needed to run a business or an organization. Examples:

• Due to the financial problems of the company, the office will be run with a skeleton crew for the foreseeable future.
• The Covid-19 emergency means that we will run the buses with a skeleton crew until further notice.
• Can you please come to the office this weekend? We’re operating with a skeleton crew at the moment.

2. Add insult to injury

Meaning: act in a way that makes a bad situation worse. Examples:

• To add insult to injury, many news outlets are blaming minority communities for having higher rates of chronic disease which makes them more susceptible to COVID-19.
• Those flouting the rules add insult to injury.
• $10,000 Hospital Bill Adds Insult to Injury for COVID-19 Patient.

3. Toe the line

Meaning: to conform to a rule or standard, or to stand poised at the starting line in a footrace. Examples:

• Under Trump, corona virus scientists can speak as long as they toe the line.
• Most try to toe the line, but crowds still seen in supermarkets, parks, and beaches in Singapore.

4. Beat around the bush

Meaning: avoid the main topic or not speak directly about the issue. Examples:

• Let’s not beat around the bush: The corona virus is changing our lives.
• Let’s not beat around the bush: COVID-19 is here. Today, there are 202 confirmed cases in South Africa.

5. Barking up the wrong tree

Meaning: look in the wrong place or accuse the wrong person. Examples:

• Those who suggest that it is possible to overcome the crisis in a few weeks are barking up the wrong tree.
• China says U.S. COVID-19 excuses are barking up the wrong tree.

6. Break loose

Meaning: suddenly become loose, suddenly stop being attached to something, get away from someone or something by using force or effort. Examples:

• A novel corona virus is breaking loose.
• That’s when all hell broke loose: corona virus patients start to overwhelm US hospitals.
• Everything broke loose: a doctor and Covid-19 survivor recalls his ordeal.

7. Break free

Meaning: escape from imprisonment, escape from the control of a person, group, or practice. Examples:

• This is a healthy way to break free from being cooped up by corona virus.
• Staying all day at home, he felt like a rabbit caged by a hunter’s trap, unable to break free.
• To break free from the crisis, you must raise your level of thinking.

8. By the skin of your teeth

Meaning: barely manage to do something; manage to do something by the smallest margin. Examples:

• This Morning host Phillip Schofield has said he and the crew are “holding on by the skin of their teeth” to continue presenting the show amid the corona virus outbreak.
• The team held on by the skin of their teeth to continue work remotely.

9. Cry wolf

Meaning: call for help when you don’t need it. Examples:

• We have cried wolf over so many issues, that it has contributed to us being under prepared.
• Like the boy who cried wolf, news of the spread of corona virus was not taken seriously by most Americans.
• Trump likes to dismiss critics as crying wolf. The wolf may have arrived.

10. Clear-cut

Meaning: obvious; easy to understand. Examples:

• They lack a clear-cut corona virus strategy.
• The drug has clear-cut power to fight the virus.

11. Cut corners

Meaning: do something badly or cheaply; do something perfunctorily to save time or money. Examples:

• Pandemic Ethics: Is it right to cut corners in the search for a corona virus cure?
• Scientists cut peer-review corners under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The authoritative States cut corners on their citizens’ rights, using force disproportionately and passing repressive laws.

12. Don’t cry over spilled milk

Meaning: to express regret or being upset over something that has already happened or cannot be changed. Examples:

• Food waste in the time of COVID-19: The real reason to cry over spilled milk.
• The expression “There is no crying over spilled milk even if it isn’t spilled quite yet” begins to capture the dilemma of what to do in the wake of the corona virus.

13. Every cloud has a silver lining

Meaning: every difficult or sad situation has a comforting or more hopeful aspect, even though this may not be immediately apparent. Examples:

• Corona virus: Dark clouds, but some silver linings?
• Every cloud has a silver lining. In uncertain times, become someone’s savior.
• Covid-19 cloud has a silver lining. Some companies, particularly in health-related areas, have benefited while others have taken advantage of the crisis to make big strategic investments.

14. Get a taste of your own medicine

Meaning: get treated the way you’ve been treating others. Examples:

• Corona virus hackers face cyber security community’s wrath. Here’s how cyberpunks get the taste of their own medicine.
• Pelosi says calling Trump ‘morbidly obese’ was a taste of his ‘own medicine’.

15. Give someone the benefit of the doubt

Meaning: trust what someone says; to decide that you will believe someone, even though you are not sure that what the person is saying is true. Examples:

• Britons give Boris Johnson the benefit of the doubt in a virus emergency.
• Our teachers have earned the benefit of the doubt. Be patient during the pandemic.
• Let’s give tech philanthropists the benefit of the doubt on COVID-19.

16. Go down in flames

Meaning: fail spectacularly; to end suddenly and completely; be utterly ruined or wrecked. Examples:

• Corona virus the culprit in an economy going down in flames. Some economic indicators underscore not only how bad this month was, but how it’s likely to get worse.
• March was a harsh month. Many companies went down in flames.

17. Go to the wall

Meaning: fail; be destroyed. Examples:

• Many small businesses will go to the wall because of Covid-19.
• Lots of companies went to the wall during the pandemic.

18. Have a fit

Meaning: be very shocked or angry; to become very or unreasonably angry or upset; to have an outburst of rage, frustration, or ill temper. Examples:

• I was so embarrassed when Danny started having a fit in the grocery store because he didn’t found what he wanted to buy.
• John had a fit when he lost his job.

19. Jump on the bandwagon

Meaning: join others in doing or supporting something fashionable or likely to be successful. Examples:

• These Malaysian companies jump onto the pandemic bandwagon, how many will make it?
• Android surveillance ware operators jump on the corona virus fear bandwagon.
• With 57% of the US population believing that brands are ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ with their messaging around corona virus, it’s clear audiences aren’t convinced by the sincerity of brand communications.

20. Leave no stone unturned

Meaning: do everything possible to achieve a goal. Examples:

• Leaving no stone unturned in the race against coronavirus.
• Leave no stone unturned: what the COVID-19 pandemic can teach us about ultra-fast innovation.

21. Make hay while the sun shines

Meaning: take advantage of favorable conditions; make the most of an opportunity when it is available. Examples:

• Commodities after corona virus. Make hay while the sun shines.
• Billionaires are getting even richer from the pandemic because they know how to make hay while the sun shines.

22. Miss the boat

Meaning: be too slow to take advantage of an opportunity. Examples:

• Amazon, Navy miss the boat on crisis responses.
• How Norway missed the boat on Europe’s joint medical purchases.
• So forget blame. We all missed the boat to one extent or another.

23. Pull oneself together

Meaning: recover control of one’s emotions or actions; to become calm and behave normally again after being angry or upset. Examples:

• No one is going on holiday. World travel has been decimated by corona virus. As a travel agency owner, she was terrified, but she pulled herself together.
• I’m going through a major personal crisis, but I’ll have to pull myself together and do what is to be done.

24. Running on a fumes

Meaning: to continue doing something even when you have no energy left; to operate with low resources or money; continue to stay awake when feeling exhausted. Examples:

• The nurse has to take a nap now. Because of the huge amount of work, she hasn’t slept for twenty hours and she’s running on fumes.
• “We are running on fumes,” she says, still managing a smile. “We may have five or seven days before shutting down our operations — we celebrate if it is more than 14.”
• Auto loans are emerging as one the of hardest-hit categories of credit amid the corona virus pandemic. They are running on fumes.

25. Show promise

Meaning: indicate likely success. Examples:

• The treatment to help people with Covid-19 infection has been showing promise.
• The corona virus drug shows promise in the first human trials.
• Picasso showed promise even when he was a child. His drawings were brilliant.

26. Sit on the fence

Meaning: not to make a decision or choice; remain neutral when a decision or choice is required. Examples:

• Investors cannot sit on the fence after corona virus stock rout — it’s time to buy stocks, Bernstein says.
• You can’t sit on the fence any longer, you need to choose who of your employees you have to fire.

27. Add fuel to the fire

Meaning: cause a situation or conflict to become more intense. Examples:

• Trump’s ‘Chinese virus’ tweet adds fuel to fire with Beijing.
• Threats of civil claims add fuel to the wildfire.
• Adding fuel to the fire in the hearts of those anxious of loneliness.

28. Taking a toll

Meaning: causing harm over time. Examples:

• Corona virus is taking its toll on people’s mental health.
• All the late nights are taking a toll on Nurse Emily. She looks exhausted.

29. At the crossroads

Meaning: at a point where an important decision needs to be made. Examples:

• Indonesia stands at a crossroads in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Globalization is at a crossroads with COVID-19. The world economy is so intertwined and countries so interdependent, the breaking of one single link in the chain is apparently enough to cause all hell to break loose.

30. Work up the nerve

Meaning: to be brave, to have courage, to find courage. Examples:

• I’ve been working up the nerve to tell my boss how much we lost during the pandemic.
• The doctor worked up the nerve to tell new patients that they are overwhelmed and they have to choose which ones to help and which ones they will not.

Final Thought

By learning how to use English idioms, you’ll be much more confident. It’s not just about the language skills, but also the dedication and hard work required to get there. By becoming a native-sounding speaker, you’ll show others that you know how to get results.