Success and Failure Idioms

Life is full of ups and downs, and English has many idioms to describe both success and failure.

Success Idioms

Hit the jackpot

Meaning: To have great success or luck

• We hit the jackpot with our new employee.
• Finding that apartment was like hitting the jackpot.
• The company hit the jackpot with its new product.

Knock it out of the park

Meaning: To do something exceptionally well

• Your presentation knocked it out of the park!
• She knocked it out of the park with her performance.
• Let’s knock this project out of the park!

On a roll

Meaning: Having a series of successes

• I’ve won three games - I’m on a roll!
• The team is on a roll - five wins in a row!
• She’s on a roll with her sales this month.

Hit the ground running

Meaning: To start something energetically and effectively

• New employees need to hit the ground running.
• She hit the ground running in her new job.
• After the merger, we need to hit the ground running.

Make it big

Meaning: To become very successful, especially famous

• She moved to Hollywood to make it big.
• He made it big in the tech industry.
• Every musician dreams of making it big.

The sky’s the limit

Meaning: There’s no limit to what you can achieve

• With your talent, the sky’s the limit!
• In this company, the sky’s the limit for ambitious people.
• Now that she’s recovered, the sky’s the limit.

Go the extra mile

Meaning: To make more effort than required

• Our staff always goes the extra mile for customers.
• She went the extra mile to help me.
• If you want to succeed, you need to go the extra mile.

Bear fruit

Meaning: To produce good results

• Years of hard work finally bore fruit.
• His investments are starting to bear fruit.
• Patience and persistence will eventually bear fruit.

Failure Idioms

Back to square one

Meaning: Starting over from the beginning

• The deal fell through - back to square one.
• If this doesn’t work, we’re back to square one.
• All that work, and now we’re back to square one.

Hit rock bottom

Meaning: To reach the lowest point

• After losing his job, he hit rock bottom.
• The economy hit rock bottom in 2009.
• Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can recover.

Fall flat

Meaning: To fail completely (often of jokes or plans)

• His joke fell flat - nobody laughed.
• The marketing campaign fell flat.
• The event fell flat due to poor planning.

Go down in flames

Meaning: To fail spectacularly

• The project went down in flames.
• His business idea went down in flames.
• The negotiations went down in flames at the last minute.

Miss the boat

Meaning: To miss an opportunity

• I missed the boat on buying Bitcoin early.
• Don’t miss the boat - apply now!
• We missed the boat on that trend.

Throw in the towel

Meaning: To give up, admit defeat

• After months of trying, she threw in the towel.
• Don’t throw in the towel - keep trying!
• The company finally threw in the towel and closed.

Come to nothing

Meaning: To result in failure, produce no results

• All our planning came to nothing.
• His big ideas always come to nothing.
• Months of work came to nothing when funding was cut.

Bite off more than you can chew

Meaning: To take on more than you can handle

• I bit off more than I could chew with this project.
• Don’t bite off more than you can chew with commitments.
• She bit off more than she could chew and missed the deadline.

Neutral / Process Idioms

Take it one step at a time

Meaning: To progress gradually

• Don’t rush - take it one step at a time.
• Recovery is a process - take it one step at a time.

Rome wasn’t built in a day

Meaning: Important things take time

• Be patient - Rome wasn’t built in a day.
• You can’t learn a language overnight - Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Learn the ropes

Meaning: To learn how things work in a new situation

• It takes a few weeks to learn the ropes.
• She’s still learning the ropes at her new job.
• Once you learn the ropes, it gets easier.

Quiz