100+ Idioms Starts with C with Meanings and Examples

In this blog post, you will learn 100+ idioms that start with the letter C, along with their meanings and examples. Knowing these idioms helps you understand how English speakers use creative expressions in daily conversations. It also improves your speaking and writing skills because you can use idioms naturally in sentences. By studying their meanings and example sentences, you can remember how to use each idiom correctly. Learning idioms that start with C will make your English more expressive and confident.

Table of Contents

Idioms Start with C

1. call a spade a spade

Meaning: to call something by its right name; to speak frankly about something, even if it is unpleasant.
Use in sentence: Let’s call a spade a spade. The man is a liar.

2. call it a day

Meaning: to leave work and go home; to say that a day’s work has been completed; to bring something to an end; to stop doing something. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: I haven’t finished this essay, but I’m calling it a day.

3. call of nature

Meaning: the need to go to the lavatory. (Humorous.)
Use in sentence: Stop the car here! I have to answer the call of nature.

4. can’t hold a candle to someone

Meaning: not equal to someone; unable to measure up to someone. (Also with cannot.)
Use in sentence: As for singing, John can’t hold a candle to Jane.

5. can’t make head nor tail of someone or something

Meaning: unable to understand someone or something. (Also with cannot.)
Use in sentence: Do this report again. I can’t make head nor tail of it.

6. can’t see beyond the end of one’s nose

Meaning: unaware of and uncaring for the things that might happen in the future; not farsighted. (Also with cannot.)
Use in sentence: John is a very poor planner. He can’t see beyond the end of his nose.

7. can’t see one’s hand in front of one’s face

Meaning: unable to see very far, usually owing to darkness or fog. (Also with cannot.)
Use in sentence: It was so dark that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.

8. carry all before one

Meaning: to be exceptionally successful.
Use in sentence: He carried all before him on school prize day.

9. carry a torch for someone

Meaning: to be in love with someone who does not return love; to brood over a hopeless love affair.
Use in sentence: Is John still carrying a torch for his lost love?

10. carry the weight of the world on one’s shoulders

Meaning: to appear to be burdened by many problems.
Use in sentence: Look at Tom. He seems to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

11. carte blanche

Meaning: complete freedom to act or proceed as one pleases. (Literally, a white or blank card.)
Use in sentence: We were given carte blanche to choose the colour scheme.

12. cast in the same mould

Meaning: very similar.
Use in sentence: The two sisters are cast in the same mould—equally mean.

13. catch one’s breath

Meaning: to resume one’s normal breathing after exertion; to return to normal after being busy or very active.
Use in sentence: I ran so fast that it took me ten minutes to catch my breath.

14. catch someone on the hop

Meaning: to find someone unprepared or defenceless. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: The police caught the suspect on the hop and without an alibi.

15. catch someone’s eye

Meaning: to establish eye contact with someone; to attract someone’s attention.
Use in sentence: Try and catch the barman’s eye. AND: The shiny red car caught Mary’s eye.

16. catch the sun

Meaning: to become sunburnt. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: The baby’s face is red—she’s caught the sun. AND: Fair-skinned people catch the sun easily.

17. Cat got your tongue?

Meaning: Why don’t you speak? Speak up and answer my question! (Informal.)
Use in sentence: Answer me! What’s the matter, cat got your tongue? AND: Why don’t you speak up? Cat got your tongue?

18. caught over a barrel

Meaning: at the mercy of someone; under the control of someone. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: I’m caught over a barrel, and I have to do what he says.

19. cause tongues to wag

Meaning: to cause people to gossip; to give people something to gossip about.
Use in sentence: The way Mary was dressed will also cause tongues to wag.

20. champ at the bit

Meaning: to be ready and anxious to do something; to be impatient. (Originally said about horses.)
Use in sentence: The hounds were champing at the bit to begin the hunt.

Idioms Starts with C in English with Meanings and Examples — Idioms Start with C in English

Letter C Idioms in English

21. chance one’s arm

Meaning: to do something risky or dangerous.
Use in sentence: Don’t chance your arm by asking for yet another day off.

22. change hands

Meaning: [for something] to be sold. (Refers to the changing of owners.)
Use in sentence: How many times has this house changed hands in the last ten years?

23. change horses in mid-stream

Meaning: to make major changes in an activity which has already begun; to choose someone or something else after it is too late
Use in sentence: I’m already baking a cherry pie. I can’t bake an apple pie. It’s too late to change horses in midstream.

24. change someone’s tune

Meaning: to change the manner, attitude, or behaviour of a person, usually from bad to good, or from rude to pleasant.
Use in sentence: The cashier was most unpleasant until she learned that I’m a bank director. Then she changed her tune.

25. chapter and verse

Meaning: detailed sources of information. (A reference to the method of referring to biblical texts.)
Use in sentence: The suspect gave chapter and verse of his associate’s activities.

26. chapter of accidents

Meaning: a series of misfortunes.
Use in sentence: Yesterday was just a chapter of accidents—nothing went right.

27. cheek by jowl

Meaning 1: side by side; close together.
Use in sentence: The walkers had to walk cheek by jowl along the narrow streets.
Meaning 2: in cooperation; with a concerted effort.
Use in sentence: The children worked cheek by jowl to make their mother’s birthday gift in time.

28. cheesed off

Meaning: bored; depressed; annoyed.
Use in sentence: She was cheesed off when she missed the bus.

29. cheese-paring

Meaning: mean; niggardly.
Use in sentence: The cheese-paring old woman will not give to the poor.

30. chew the cud

Meaning: to think deeply. (Informal. From the cow’s habit of bringing food back from the first stomach into the mouth to chew it, called chewing the cud.)
Use in sentence: He’s chewing the cud about what to do next.

31. chilled to the marrow AND chilled to the bone

Meaning: very cold.
Use in sentence: I was chilled to the marrow in that snowstorm. AND: The children were chilled to the bone in that unheated room.

32. chink in one’s armour

Meaning: a weakness or vulnerable point that provides an opportunity for attacking or impressing someone who is otherwise invulnerable.
Use in sentence: Jane’s insecurity is the chink in her armour.

33. chip off the old block

Meaning: a person (usually a male) who behaves in the same way as his father or resembles his father. (Usually informal.)
Use in sentence: John looks like his father—a real chip off the old block.

34. chop and change

Meaning: to keep changing or altering something.
Use in sentence: The shop is always chopping and changing staff.

35. clap eyes on someone or something

Meaning: to see someone or something, perhaps for the first time; to set eyes on someone or something. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: I haven’t clapped eyes on a red squirrel for years.

36. clear the air

Meaning: to get rid of doubts or hostile feelings. (Sometimes this is said about an argument or other unpleasantness. The literal meaning is also used.)
Use in sentence: All right, let’s discuss this frankly. It’ll be better if we clear the air.

37. climb down

Meaning: to admit that one is wrong; to admit defeat.
Use in sentence: The teacher was forced to climb down and admit she had made a mistake.

38. clip someone’s wings

Meaning: to restrain someone; to reduce or put an end to someone’s privileges or freedom.
Use in sentence: My mother threatened to clip my wings if I kept staying out late.

39. cloak-and-dagger

Meaning: involving secrecy and plotting.
Use in sentence: A great deal of cloak-and-dagger stuff goes on in political circles.

40. close one’s eyes to something

Meaning: to ignore something; to pretend that something is not really happening.
Use in sentence: You can’t close your eyes to the hunger in the world.

Idioms with Letter C

41. cloud-cuckoo-land

Meaning: an imaginary, perfect world.
Use in sentence: She hopes to get a job travelling abroad—she must believe in cloud-cuckoo-land.

42. clutch at straws

Meaning: to seek something that is useless or unattainable; to make a futile attempt at something.
Use in sentence: I really didn’t think that I would get the job. I was clutching at straws.

43. cock-and-bull story

Meaning: a silly, made-up story; a story that is untrue.
Use in sentence: Don’t give me that cock-and-bull story.

44. cock a snook at someone

Meaning: someone who acts in a more important manner than others in a group.
Use in sentence: He loved acting cock of the walk and ordering everyone about.

45. cold comfort

Meaning: no comfort or consolation at all.
Use in sentence: She knows there are others worse off than her, but that’s cold comfort.

46. come a cropper

Meaning: to have a misfortune; to fail. (Literally, to fall off one’s horse.)
Use in sentence: Jane was out all night before she took her exams. She really came a cropper.

47. come away empty-handed

Meaning: to return without anything.
Use in sentence: Go to the bank and ask for the loan again. This time try not to come away empty-handed.

48. come down in the world

Meaning: to lose one’s social position or financial standing.
Use in sentence: Mr. Jones has really come down in the world since he lost his job.

49. come down to earth

Meaning: to become realistic or practical, especially after a period of daydreaming; to become alert to what is going on around one. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: Pay attention to what is going on. Come down to earth and join the discussion.

50. come down with something

Meaning: to become ill with some disease.
Use in sentence: I’m afraid I’m coming down with a cold. AND: I’ll probably come down with pneumonia.

51. come from far and wide

Meaning: to come from many different places.
Use in sentence: Everyone was there. They came from far and wide.

52. come full circle

Meaning: to return to the original position or state of affairs.
Use in sentence: The family sold the house generations ago, but the wheel has come full circle and one of their descendants lives there now.

53. come home to roost

Meaning: to return to cause trouble (for someone).
Use in sentence: As I feared, all my problems came home to roost.

54. come in for something

Meaning: to receive something; to acquire something.
Use in sentence: Her new play has come in for a lot of criticism.

55. come into something

Meaning: to inherit something.
Use in sentence: Jane came into a small fortune when her aunt died.

56. come of age

Meaning: to reach an age when one is old enough to own property, get married, and sign legal contracts.
Use in sentence: When Jane comes of age, she will buy her own car.

57. come off second-best

Meaning: to be in second place or worse; to be the loser.
Use in sentence: Why do I always come off second-best in an argument with you?

58. come out in the wash

Meaning: to work out all right. (Informal. This means that problems or difficulties will go away as dirt goes away in the process of washing.)
Use in sentence: Don’t worry about their accusation. It’ll all come out in the wash.

59. come out of nowhere

Meaning: to appear suddenly.
Use in sentence: Suddenly, a container lorry came out of nowhere.

60. come out of one’s shell

Meaning: to become more friendly; to be more sociable.
Use in sentence: Come out of your shell, Tom. Go out and make some friends.

Read More: Idioms Start with Letter A

English Idioms Start with Letter C

61. (come) rain or shine

Meaning: no matter whether it rains or the sun shines. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: Come out of your shell, Tom. Go out and make some friends.

62. come round

Meaning 1: finally to agree or consent (to something).
Use in sentence: I thought he’d never agree, but in the end he came round.
Meaning 2: to return to consciousness; to wake up.
Use in sentence: He came round after we threw cold water in his face.
Meaning 3: to come for a visit; to stop by (somewhere).
Use in sentence: Come round some weekend when you aren’t busy.

63. come to a bad end

Meaning: to have a disaster, perhaps one which is deserved or expected; to die an unfortunate death.
Use in sentence: I just know that the young man will come to a bad end.

64. come to a head

Meaning: to come to a crucial point; to come to a point when a problem must be solved.
Use in sentence: Remember my problem with my neighbours? Well, last night the whole thing came to a head.

65. come to an untimely end

Meaning: to come to an early death.
Use in sentence: Poor Mr. Jones came to an untimely end in a car accident.

66. come to a pretty pass

Meaning: to develop into a bad, unfortunate, or difficult situation.
Use in sentence: Things have come to a pretty pass when people have to beg in the streets.

67. come to grief

Meaning: to fail or be unsuccessful; to have trouble or grief.
Use in sentence: The artist wept when her canvas came to grief.

68. come to light

Meaning: to become known; to be discovered.
Use in sentence: Some interesting facts about your past have just come to light.

69. come to the fore

Meaning: to become obvious or prominent; to become important.
Use in sentence: The question of salary has now come to the fore.

70. conspicuous by one’s absence

Meaning: having one’s absence noticed (at an event).
Use in sentence: We missed you last night. You were conspicuous by your absence.

71. contradiction in terms

Meaning: a seeming contradiction in the wording of something.
Use in sentence: A wealthy pauper is a contradiction in terms.

72. cook someone’s goose

Meaning: to damage or ruin someone. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: I cooked my own goose by not showing up on time.

73. cook the books

Meaning: to cheat in bookkeeping; to make the accounts appear to balance when they do not.
Use in sentence: Jane was sent to jail for cooking the books of her mother’s shop.

74. cool one’s heels

Meaning: to wait impatiently (for someone). (Informal.)
Use in sentence: I spent all afternoon cooling my heels in the waiting room while the doctor talked on the telephone.

75. cost a pretty penny

Meaning: to cost a lot of money.
Use in sentence: I’ll bet that diamond cost a pretty penny.

76. cost the earth

Meaning: to cost an enormous sum of money. (Compare with paying the earth.)
Use in sentence: That huge car must have cost the earth!

77. count heads

Meaning: to count people.
Use in sentence: I’ll tell you how many people are here after I count heads.

78. crack a bottle

Meaning: to open a bottle. (Informal.)
Use in sentence: Let’s crack a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

79. cramp someone’s style

Meaning: to limit someone in some way.
Use in sentence: To ask him to keep regular hours would really be cramping his style.

80. cross a bridge before one comes to it

Meaning: to worry excessively about something before it happens.
Use in sentence: There is no sense in crossing that bridge before you come to it.

81. cross one’s heart (and hope to die)

Meaning: to pledge or vow that the truth is being told.
Use in sentence: It’s true; cross my heart and hope to die.

82. cross swords (with someone)

Meaning: to enter into an argument with someone.
Use in sentence: I don’t want to cross swords with Tom.

83. cross the Rubicon

Meaning: to do something that inevitably commits one to a following course of action. (The crossing of the River Rubicon by Julius Caesar inevitably involved him in a war with the Senate in 49 b.c.)
Use in sentence: Jane crossed the Rubicon by signing the contract.

84. crux of the matter

Meaning: the central issue of the matter. (Crux is Latin for “cross.”)
Use in sentence: All right, this is the crux of the matter.

85. cry one’s eyes out

Meaning: to cry very hard.
Use in sentence: She cried her eyes out after his death.

86. cry over spilled milk

Meaning: to be unhappy about having done something that cannot be undone. (Spilled can also be spelled spilt.)
Use in sentence: Ann is always crying over spilt milk.

87. cry wolf

Meaning: to cry out for help or to complain about something when nothing is really wrong.
Use in sentence: Don’t cry wolf too often. No one will come.

88. culture vulture

Meaning: someone whom one considers to be excessively interested in the (classical) arts.
Use in sentence: They watch only highbrow television. They’re culture vultures.

89. cupboard love

Meaning: affection shown to someone just because of the things, such as food or clothes, they supply.
Use in sentence: She doesn’t love her husband. It’s just cupboard love.

90. curl up (and die)

Meaning: to retreat and die; to shrink away because one is very embarrassed.
Use in sentence: Her mother’s praises made her want to curl up.

Read More: Idioms Start with Letter B

English Idioms That Began with Letter C

91. curry favour (with someone)

Meaning: to try to win favour from someone.
Use in sentence: It’s silly to curry favour. Just act yourself.

92. cut a fine figure

Meaning: to look good; to look elegant.
Use in sentence: Tom really cuts a fine figure on the dance floor.

93. cut a long story short

Meaning: to bring a story to an end. (A formula which introduces a summary of a story or a joke.)
Use in sentence: If I can cut a long story short, let me say that everything worked out fine.

94. cut and dried

Meaning: fixed; determined beforehand; usual and uninteresting.
Use in sentence: Our plans are all cut and dried; you can’t contribute anything now.

95. cut and thrust

Meaning: intense competition. (From sword-fighting.)
Use in sentence: Peter tired of the cut and thrust of business.

96. cut both ways

Meaning: to affect both sides of an issue equally.
Use in sentence: If our side cannot take along supporters to the game, then yours cannot either. The rule has to cut both ways.

97. cut corners

Meaning: to reduce efforts or expenditures; to do things poorly or incompletely. (From the phrase cut the corner, meaning to avoid going to an intersection to turn.)
Use in sentence: You cannot cut corners when you are dealing with public safety.

98. cut it (too) fine

Meaning: to allow scarcely enough time, money, etc., in order to accomplish something.
Use in sentence: Joan had to search her pockets for money for the bus fare. She really cut it fine.

99. cut no ice

Meaning: to have no effect; to make no sense; to have no influence.
Use in sentence: That idea cuts no ice. It won’t help at all.

100. cut one’s coat according to one’s cloth AND cut one’s coat to suit one’s cloth

Meaning: to plan one’s aims and activities in line with one’s resources and circumstances.
Use in sentence: We would like a bigger house, but we must cut our coat according to our cloth. AND: They can’t afford a holiday abroad—they have to cut their coat to suit their clothes.

101. cut one’s eye-teeth on something

Meaning: to have done something since one was very young; to have much experience at something.
Use in sentence: Do I know about cars? I cut my eye teeth on cars.

101. cut one’s teeth on something

Meaning: to gain one’s early experiences on something.
Use in sentence: The young police officers cut their teeth on minor crimes.

102. cut someone dead

Meaning: to ignore someone totally.
Use in sentence: Jean cut her former husband dead.

103. cut someone down to size

Meaning: to make a person more humble.
Use in sentence: John’s remarks really cut me down to size.

104. cut someone to the quick

Meaning: to hurt someone’s feelings very badly. (Can be used literally when quick refers to the tender flesh at the base of finger- and toe-nails.)
Use in sentence: Your criticism cut me to the quick.

105. cut teeth