18 English Idioms to Talk about Feelings and Emotions

There are lots of ways to express our emotions or the way we are feeling in English. Let’s have a look at some common idioms and expressions we use to talk about happiness, excitement, sadness, anxiety, anger, annoyance, fear and boredom.

thrilled to bits – very pleased, delighted

The kids were thrilled to bits when we told them we were going to spend the weekend at the beach.

be over the moon – be very happy because something has happened or will happen

One of my best friends got married this week in Italy. I’m over the moon for her.

be/feel on top of the world – be very happy (often it’s because you’ve been successful at something)

George has just sold his very first painting. He’s feeling on top of the world.

be in your element – be very comfortable in a certain situation

Ursula loves animals and being outdoors so when she stays at her grandparent’s farm she’s in her element.

be in a state – be very nervous or upset

Amanda is in a state because she can’t find her passport anywhere and she has to fly to New York tomorrow!

tear your hair out – be extremely anxious or frustrated

Emily has been tearing her hair out this morning – she needs to fix something on her website but she can’t see how to do it.

be at the end of your tether – you are so tired or exasperated with a situation that you feel you can’t deal with it anymore

Anthony has been working two jobs for a year without a single holiday. He’s at the end of his tether.

have butterflies (in your stomach) – feel nervous (usually before you have to perform in some way)

Andrea has butterflies because she is about to meet her boyfriend’s parents for the very first time.

be on tenterhooks – be anxious about something that’s about to happen.

As they started to announce who the prizewinners were, everybody was on tenterhooks.

be scared stiff (of something) – very frightened, petrified

Poor Alex! He has a presentation to give tomorrow in front of five hundred people and he is scared stiff.

Pam didn’t want to go up to the top of the Tour Eiffel as she is scared stiff of heights.

to scare the hell out of someone – really frighten someone

It scared the hell out of me last night when someone suddenly walked past my kitchen window.

cry your eyes out – cry a lot

Helena cried her eyes out when her school trip to Florence was cancelled. She had really been looking forward to it.

be down / be down in the dumps – feel sad

Simon has been quite down since he broke up with his girlfriend.

get goosebumps – get raised spots on your skin because you are excited, scared or cold.

As my favourite singer walked onto the stage, I got goosebumps. I’d been thinking about this concert for months and finally it was happening.

be hopping mad – be furious

When I told Max that someone had scratched his brand new car, he was hopping mad.

have a short temper / have a quick temper – get angry very easily

Adrian isn’t the easiest person to work with. He has such a quick temper. You don’t dare make a mistake.

to get right up someone’s nose – to really annoy someone

There are so many adverts on the app. It gets right up my nose.

When people put their feet on the seats in the train it gets right up Jack’s nose.

keep your hair on!

meaning: calm down! We say this when we feel someone is being too dramatic.

Keep your hair on, Doug! We’re not going to miss the plane – we still have lots of time to get to the airport.

fed up to the back teeth

meaning: annoyed because a situation has continued for so long

Ben is fed up to the back teeth with his neighbours having loud parties every single weekend.

be bored to death – be extremely bored

Oh my goodness, the flight is fourteen hours? I’m going to be bored to death because I can never sleep on planes.

bore the pants off someone – make someone very bored

Please don’t seat me next to Gerald at your dinner party. He bores the pants off me.

Test your Idioms!

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