Phrases & Expressions

Excellent, wonderful, or highly admirable.

• Her performance was the bee's knees.
• He thinks his new car is the bee's knees.

Used to accept that something bad has happened and cannot be changed.

• My flight was cancelled and I missed the wedding. Those are the breaks.
• He lost his job right before retirement. Those are the breaks.

The vast, open ocean, far from land.

• The ship sailed out into the deep blue.
• Many mysteries lie within the deep blue.

To have only small plans or limited ambitions.

• If you think small, your business will stay small.
• Don't think small; this project could change the whole industry.

Aircraft flying very close together, wingtip to wingtip, in a military or airshow formation.

• The fighter jets flew in a tight formation.
• A tight formation is difficult to maintain.

Time that was used in a useful or enjoyable way.

• The extra hours of practice were time well spent.
• Visiting my grandparents is always time well spent.

A situation or person that is too difficult or dangerous to manage.

• This problem is too hot to handle.
• He found the case too hot to handle.

To catch an animal and move it to a different place.

• They decided to trap and relocate the deer.
• Wildlife experts will trap and relocate the fox.

To go back to an earlier time or undo past events.

• If only I could turn the clock back to my youth.
• You can't turn the clock back; you have to accept what happened.

A method for prioritizing tasks by plotting their potential value against the effort required.

• The value vs effort matrix showed clear winners.
• We used value vs effort to decide which projects to start.