These expressions are used to describe various aspects of school life, including relationships, routines, and challenges. Here are 20 idioms and phrasal verbs related to school.
School Expressions
- Play truant
- Meaning: Skip school without permission.
- Example: He played truant to avoid the test.
- Drop out
- Meaning: Leave school or university before finishing.
- Example: He dropped out of college last year.
- Pass the test
- Meaning: Succeed in an examination.
- Example: I studied hard and passed the test.
- Ace a test
- Meaning: Score very well on a test.
- Example: She aced the history test.
- Teacher’s pet
- Meaning: The teacher’s favorite student.
- Example: Mary is the teacher’s pet in class.
- Cut class
- Meaning: Skip class without permission.
- Example: Tom decided to cut class today.
- Show of hands
- Meaning: Raise hands to express opinions.
- Example: A show of hands determined the leader.
- Make the grade
- Meaning: Meet the required standard.
- Example: John didn’t make the grade for varsity.
- Learn the ropes
- Meaning: Learn how things are done.
- Example: He learned the ropes quickly at school.
- Draw a blank
- Meaning: Fail to remember something.
- Example: I drew a blank during the quiz.
- Hit it off
- Meaning: Become friends quickly.
- Example: Sara and Linda hit it off immediately.
- School of thought
- Meaning: A particular philosophy or viewpoint.
- Example: There’s a different school of thought on this.
- Brainstorm ideas
- Meaning: Think of many ideas quickly.
- Example: We brainstormed ideas for the science project.
- Pass out
- Meaning: Distribute to many people.
- Example: The teacher passed out worksheets.
- Mark down
- Meaning: Deduct marks for errors.
- Example: The teacher marked her down for spelling errors.
- Pull up one’s socks
- Meaning: Improve performance or behavior.
- Example: You need to pull up your socks.
- Show and tell
- Meaning: Demonstrate something for the class.
- Example: Today’s show and tell was about hobbies.
- Take attendance
- Meaning: Check which students are present.
- Example: The teacher takes attendance every morning.
- Write up
- Meaning: Create a complete report or document.
- Example: We had to write up our experiments.
- Spell out
- Meaning: Explain clearly and in detail.
- Example: The instructions were spelled out for us.
