idiomatic expression

1. 1.

   an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up

   Synonymsidiomphrasal idiomset phrasephrase

   Broadersaying

   Narrowerruralism

Questions about idiomatic expression

What does idiomatic expression mean?

idiomatic expression means "an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up".

What is another word for idiomatic expression?

Close synonyms include idiom, phrasal idiom, set phrase, phrase. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is idiomatic expression a common word?

idiomatic expression is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.