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Definition of Idiomatic expression
1. Noun. An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up.
Generic synonyms: Expression, Locution, Saying
Specialized synonyms: Ruralism, Rusticism
Examples of language type: Out Of Whack, In The Lurch, Like Clockwork
Derivative terms: Idiomatic, Phrasal, Phrase
Lexicographical Neighbors of Idiomatic Expression
Literary usage of Idiomatic expression
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Duality of Voice: An Outline of Original Research by Emil Sutro (1899)
"idiomatic expression Although it is a well known fact that every language has an
idiomatic expression, an intonation of its own, I am not aware of any ..."
2. On the Study of Celtic Literature ; And, On Translating Homer by Matthew Arnold (1893)
"Such, indeed, is the force and power of Shakspeare's idiomatic expression, that
it gives an effect of clearness and vividness even to a thought which is ..."
3. The facts of life: (Les Faits de la vie)...Part I-II by Victor Bétis, Howard Swan (1904)
"This is easily explicable, as it is always the idiomatic expression which has
been most frequently (not to say solely) associated with the fact itself ..."
4. A Rational Grammar of the English Language by William Bramwell Powell, Louise Connolly (1899)
"A currently accepted custom, though apparently illogical, may give rise to an
idiomatic expression. EXAMPLE. Good usage sanctions the sentence / went ..."
5. On Translating Homer: Three Lectures Given at Oxford by Matthew Arnold (1861)
"But the grand instance of the union of idiomatic expression with curious or ...
Such, indeed, is the force and power of Shakspeare's idiomatic expression, ..."
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