CDS English · Idioms and Phrases
Idioms for feelings and states of mind
Idioms that name a feeling or a state of mind: anger and fear, joy and sorrow, understanding and doubt, rest and health.
Why this matters
This is one of the largest families of idioms on the CDS paper. The options are usually a set of feelings, some pleasant and some unpleasant. Decide first whether the idiom is pleasant or unpleasant, and part of the list goes at once. Then choose the exact feeling.
Concept 1 of 4: Anger, fear and disgust
Before you read the options, decide the idiom's charge. Is it a pleasant feeling (positive) or an unpleasant one (negative)? 'Up in arms' pictures people reaching for weapons, so it is negative, and every happy option goes at once. Then choose between the unpleasant feelings: anger, fear or disgust.
Definition
Two decisions, in this order:
- Positive charge: a pleasant feeling (happy, calm, proud).
- Negative charge: an unpleasant feeling (angry, afraid, disgusted, jealous).
- Fix the charge first, then the exact feeling: anger and anxiety are both negative, but they are different answers.
- The body picture often points to the feeling: nerves and jitters to fear, the stomach to disgust, the skin to irritation, a green eye to jealousy.
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have a conniption fit | Become very angry or upset | To be very sad | 2019 (II)Q |
| Up in arms | Very angry and ready to protest | Very satisfied | 2021 (I)Q |
| Get the jitters | Feel nervous and anxious | Feeling exposed | 2020 (II)Q |
| Live on your nerves | Be anxious all the time | To be steely nerved | 2026 (II)Q |
| Fall in a heap | Lose control of your feelings; break down | To be in control of one's feelings | 2019 (II)Q |
| Get under someone's skin | Annoy or irritate someone badly | To understand someone completely | 2025 (II)Q The phrase can also mean that someone fascinates you, which is why two options talk about love. Its usual meaning, and the answer, is to annoy. |
| Turn one's stomach | Make someone feel sick with disgust | Being plagued by a stomach upset | 2025 (I)Q |
| The green-eyed monster | Jealousy | Feeling bad about happenings | 2020 (I)Q |
All eight carry a negative charge, so a happy or calm option is never the answer here.
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2021 · CDS (I) 2021 — English · Q13Easy
Example 1 · Idioms and Phrases · Idioms: Feelings and States of Mind
Directions: choose the correct meaning of the idiom/phrase
Up in arms
Options come in opposite pairs
For fall in a heap the options included both 'to lose control of one's own feelings' and 'to be in control of one's own feelings'. For live on your nerves, 'to be continually anxious' sat beside 'to be steely nerved', which means calm under pressure. Decide the direction before you choose.
The body part is not an illness
Turn one's stomach means to disgust you. 'A stomach upset' is the literal reading. The body part names where the feeling is felt, not a disease.
Same charge, different feeling
The green-eyed monster is jealousy, not general sadness ('feeling bad about happenings'). A conniption fit is anger, not sorrow. Once the charge is fixed, name the exact feeling.
Concept 2 of 4: Joy, sorrow and surprise
These idioms often tell you how strong a feeling is: not just happy but 'in seventh heaven', not just sad but 'with a heavy heart'. Some look happy and carry a warning: a 'fool's paradise' is happiness built on not seeing the truth.
Definition
What to check:
- Fix the charge, then the strength: seventh heaven is extreme joy.
- Surprise idioms describe a reaction to something unexpected: raised eyebrows, 'what a small world!'.
- A paradise that belongs to a fool is not real happiness: the idiom criticises someone who will not face a bad truth.
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Be in seventh heaven | Be extremely happy | To be extremely adventurous | 2019 (II)Q |
| With a heavy heart | With sadness and regret | With heavy weight | 2020 (II)Q |
| Live in a fool's paradise | Be happy only because you refuse to see how bad things are | To believe that things you want will happen | 2019 (I)Q |
| Raise eyebrows | Cause or show surprise | Criticize | 2018 (I)Q |
| What a small world! | What a coincidence (said on meeting someone you know in an unexpected place) | What a narrow space | 2018 (I)Q |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2019 · CDS (II) 2019 — English · Q13Easy
Example 2 · Idioms and Phrases · Idioms: Feelings and States of Mind
Directions: most appropriate meaning of the idiom
Be in seventh heaven
A fool's paradise is not hope
'To believe that things you want will happen' is wishful thinking. A fool's paradise adds the key part: the person is happy because they will not accept how bad the situation really is.
Heavy is not about weight
With a heavy heart means with sadness and regret. 'With heavy weight' is the literal picture; reject it.
Small world, not small space
What a small world! is said about a surprising coincidence. 'What a narrow space' reads the words literally.
Concept 3 of 4: Understanding, belief and what lies beneath
Several idioms say that something cannot be understood: it is 'Greek to me', it is 'over my head', I am 'at sea'. Others are about belief ('I don't buy it') or a hidden side ('more than meets the eye'). Read the options for the exact state of mind: not understanding is not the same as not believing.
Definition
Sort the idiom into one box:
- Not understanding: at sea, all Greek to me, over one's head.
- Not believing: I don't buy it.
- Hidden depth: more than meets the eye.
- Plain reality: life in the raw.
- Keep understand, believe, accept and recognise apart: CDS has put all four in a single question.
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| At sea | Confused; not knowing what to do | Relaxed | 2023 (II)Q |
| It's all Greek to me | I cannot understand it at all | Something which I don't recognize | 2023 (II), 2026 (I)Q Asked twice. Greek stands for a language you cannot read, so the point is understanding, not recognising or finding it foreign. |
| Over one's head | Too hard for someone to understand | Bypassing authority secretly | 2026 (II)Q 'Go over someone's head' (go to a higher authority) is a different idiom. |
| I don't buy it | I don't believe it | I have no money | 2018 (I)Q |
| More than meets the eye | A hidden meaning or importance beyond what is obvious | A beautiful spectacle before one's eyes | 2026 (I)Q |
| Life in the raw | Life as it really is, hard and unpolished | Life at its easiest | 2021 (II)Q |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2026 · CDS (II) 2026 — English · Q53Moderate
Example 3 · Idioms and Phrases · Idioms: Feelings and States of Mind
Directions: Given below are idioms/phrases. Choose the most appropriate meaning and mark your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly.
Over one's head
Understand, believe, accept, recognise
For it is all Greek to me the options were 'something which I don't believe / accept / recognize / understand'. Only the last fits. One verb is the whole question.
Two idioms with 'head'
Something over your head is too hard for you to understand. To go over someone's head is to go to their boss. An option about bypassing authority belongs to the second idiom.
Buying is not about money
I don't buy it means I don't believe it. 'I have no money' takes 'buy' literally.
Concept 4 of 4: Rest, health and looks
These idioms describe the body: resting after work, sleeping deeply, being well again, eating little, looking smart. The trap is usually the opposite activity: working hard instead of relaxing, untidy instead of neat.
Definition
The groups:
- Rest: wind down, mellow out (relax, take it easy).
- Sleep: be out for the count (deeply asleep; also knocked out).
- Health: as right as rain (fully well again).
- Eating and looks: eat like a bird (eat very little), spiff up (make yourself look neat and smart).
- Decide the direction first: more activity or less? Neat or untidy?
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind down | Relax after a busy period | Act furiously after a period of silence | 2021 (I)Q |
| Mellow out | Relax and take things easy | Work hard and do a lot | 2021 (I)Q |
| Be out for the count | Be deeply asleep (or knocked out) | Counting money carefully | 2022 (I)Q From boxing: a fighter who is down and cannot rise before the referee counts ten. |
| As right as rain | Fully well in body and mind again | To be physically active | 2023 (II)Q |
| Eat like a bird | Eat very little | Eat fast | 2020 (I)Q |
| Spiff up | Make yourself look neat and smart | Make oneself look untidy | 2021 (I)Q |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
CDS · 2021 · CDS (I) 2021 — English · Q19Easy
Example 4 · Idioms and Phrases · Idioms: Feelings and States of Mind
Directions: choose the correct meaning of the idiom/phrase
Wind down
Activity reversed
Mellow out means to relax. 'To work hard and do much work' is its opposite. These idioms are about doing less, so an option about effort is a reversal.
Counting is the picture
Out for the count has nothing to do with counting money or steps. The count is the referee's count over a fallen boxer.
Birds peck fast, but eat little
Eat like a bird means to eat very little. 'Eat fast' comes from picturing a bird pecking, which is the wrong feature.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Reference tables (4)
Anger, fear and disgust8 rows
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have a conniption fit | Become very angry or upset | To be very sad | 2019 (II)Q |
| Up in arms | Very angry and ready to protest | Very satisfied | 2021 (I)Q |
| Get the jitters | Feel nervous and anxious | Feeling exposed | 2020 (II)Q |
| Live on your nerves | Be anxious all the time | To be steely nerved | 2026 (II)Q |
| Fall in a heap | Lose control of your feelings; break down | To be in control of one's feelings | 2019 (II)Q |
| Get under someone's skin | Annoy or irritate someone badly | To understand someone completely | 2025 (II)Q The phrase can also mean that someone fascinates you, which is why two options talk about love. Its usual meaning, and the answer, is to annoy. |
| Turn one's stomach | Make someone feel sick with disgust | Being plagued by a stomach upset | 2025 (I)Q |
| The green-eyed monster | Jealousy | Feeling bad about happenings | 2020 (I)Q |
All eight carry a negative charge, so a happy or calm option is never the answer here.
Joy, sorrow and surprise5 rows
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Be in seventh heaven | Be extremely happy | To be extremely adventurous | 2019 (II)Q |
| With a heavy heart | With sadness and regret | With heavy weight | 2020 (II)Q |
| Live in a fool's paradise | Be happy only because you refuse to see how bad things are | To believe that things you want will happen | 2019 (I)Q |
| Raise eyebrows | Cause or show surprise | Criticize | 2018 (I)Q |
| What a small world! | What a coincidence (said on meeting someone you know in an unexpected place) | What a narrow space | 2018 (I)Q |
Understanding, belief and what lies beneath6 rows
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| At sea | Confused; not knowing what to do | Relaxed | 2023 (II)Q |
| It's all Greek to me | I cannot understand it at all | Something which I don't recognize | 2023 (II), 2026 (I)Q Asked twice. Greek stands for a language you cannot read, so the point is understanding, not recognising or finding it foreign. |
| Over one's head | Too hard for someone to understand | Bypassing authority secretly | 2026 (II)Q 'Go over someone's head' (go to a higher authority) is a different idiom. |
| I don't buy it | I don't believe it | I have no money | 2018 (I)Q |
| More than meets the eye | A hidden meaning or importance beyond what is obvious | A beautiful spectacle before one's eyes | 2026 (I)Q |
| Life in the raw | Life as it really is, hard and unpolished | Life at its easiest | 2021 (II)Q |
Rest, health and looks6 rows
| Idiom | Meaning | Wrong option to avoid | Asked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind down | Relax after a busy period | Act furiously after a period of silence | 2021 (I)Q |
| Mellow out | Relax and take things easy | Work hard and do a lot | 2021 (I)Q |
| Be out for the count | Be deeply asleep (or knocked out) | Counting money carefully | 2022 (I)Q From boxing: a fighter who is down and cannot rise before the referee counts ten. |
| As right as rain | Fully well in body and mind again | To be physically active | 2023 (II)Q |
| Eat like a bird | Eat very little | Eat fast | 2020 (I)Q |
| Spiff up | Make yourself look neat and smart | Make oneself look untidy | 2021 (I)Q |
Watch out for (12)
- Options come in opposite pairs→ Anger, fear and disgust
- The body part is not an illness→ Anger, fear and disgust
- Same charge, different feeling→ Anger, fear and disgust
- A fool's paradise is not hope→ Joy, sorrow and surprise
- Heavy is not about weight→ Joy, sorrow and surprise
- Small world, not small space→ Joy, sorrow and surprise
- Understand, believe, accept, recognise→ Understanding, belief and what lies beneath
- Two idioms with 'head'→ Understanding, belief and what lies beneath
- Buying is not about money→ Understanding, belief and what lies beneath
- Activity reversed→ Rest, health and looks
- Counting is the picture→ Rest, health and looks
- Birds peck fast, but eat little→ Rest, health and looks
Test yourself on Idioms and Phrases
20 past CDS questions from this chapter, timed at 20 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.