How do you react when you feel down in the mouth? Do you have a face like a wet weekend, when you don’t get your own way? What kind of situation or event would make you fall to pieces, or feel absolutely gutted? Have you or any of your friends or family ever had a midlife crisis? What did they end up doing? Whether you handle stress and emotional crises calmly, or find yourself sinking deeper and deeper into despair, this handy list of 20 English idioms of sadness will help you understand common idioms and expressions in English about sadness.
[Click here to learn more about how to use idioms in teaching English.]
sby = somebody sth = something
1. idiom: be down in the mouth / down in the dumps
literal meaning: be sad for a short time
example: The twins were down in the dumps this morning, so after lunch I took them to the playground and they had a lovely time.
2. idiom: reduce sby to tears
literal meaning: make sby cry
example: Then my boss started having a go at me, and telling me what a bad employee I was, and I couldn’t stand it any longer… I began sobbing. You know, that woman reduced me to tears.
3. idiom: have a face like a wet weekend
literal meaning: look sad
example: Look – I know you’ve lost your phone, but you’ve been sitting there all morning with a face like a wet weekend! Why don’t you read a book or do a jigsaw puzzle, or something?
4. idiom: be too sad for words
literal meaning: be so sad that you cannot express how you feel
example: The loss of David’s beloved mother is quite simply too sad for words.
5. idiom: have a lump in your throat
literal meaning: feel like you are about to cry
example: ‘How was the graduation ceremony, mum? Did you cry?’ ‘I was fine until I saw Jemima receive her certificate from the Dean and then I began to feel a lump in my throat. But no, I didn’t cry.’
6. idiom: break sby’s heart / have your heart broken by sby
literal meaning: to be hurt very badly emotionally by a romantic partner
example: ‘I’m sorry, Jason – it’s over! I can’t… I can’t…’ ‘Don’t go, darling. I’m sorry. I can explain… Don’t… Don’t leave me here with a broken heart.’
7. idiom: feel low / blue / out of sorts
literal meaning: not feel very strong emotionally; feel a little depressed
example: ‘What’s up with you today?’ ‘I don’t know. You know, I just feel a bit low today. You know – out of sorts.’
8. idiom: be / feel gutted
literal meaning: be disappointed
example: I was gutted I didn’t get the job. What’s wrong with me? I just can’t seem to get a break.
9. idiom: be a sad state of affairs
literal meaning: be a very sad – and perhaps avoidable – situation
example: The fact that your grandfather died on a trolley in a hospital corridor without getting the medical care and attention that he needed was a very sad state of affairs. I’m so sorry.
10. idiom: be / end up sadder but wiser
literal meaning: end up feeling sadder but with greater wisdom gained from life experience
example: I still don’t think it was right to get divorced, but my ex-husband absolutely insisted upon it. So, as you can see it’s been a long, hard road but… but… You know what? I think I’ve ended up sadder but wiser.
11. idiom: take sth hard
literal meaning: be badly affected emotionally by an event
example: ‘Terry’s dog died of leukaemia last month.’ ‘Is that why he’s been so withdrawn recently?’ ‘Yeah – he took it really hard. Poor guy.’
12. idiom: be cut up about sth / sby
literal meaning: be very upset about sth / sby
example: ‘Josephine had to go to court to try and get custody of her kids. She lost.’ ‘Yeah, I know. She seems pretty cut up about it.’ ‘Well, wouldn’t you be?’
13. idiom: go / fall to pieces
literal meaning: suddenly break down emotionally
example: Mum had been on edge all day, because of the debt collector calling, but when she found out that Benji had been in an accident and was in hospital she just went to pieces.
14. idiom: not be the same since…
literal meaning: be different after a sad event
example: To be honest, I haven’t been the same since Oscar died. I loved him so much.
15. idiom: be beside yourself with grief
literal meaning: be very upset – even inconsolable – due to the death of a loved one
example: ‘Alex, please come round and talk to our mother. She hasn’t come downstairs for two days.’ ‘What do you expect? Since dad’s sudden passing, she’s been beside herself with grief.’
16. idiom: misery loves company
literal meaning: people who feel sad like to share their problems with others
example: ‘Since he got divorced, Brian can’t stop going on about his problems – endlessly!’ ‘Well, you know what they say – “misery loves company“.’
17. idiom: sink into despair
literal meaning: gradually feel more and more hopeless
example: Following the rat infestation, as the number of court cases mounted, the manager of Alan’s Fish Bar began to sink deeper into despair.
18. idiom: have a midlife crisis
literal meaning: behave in an out of character manner after reaching middle age
example: ‘After her fortieth birthday, my sweet little neighbour Ola cut her hair, ditched her long-term boyfriend, put her lovely flat on the market and set off on an indefinite charity walk around the world.’ ‘It looks like a midlife crisis to me.’
19. idiom: heart sinks / get that sinking feeling
literal meaning: get a sudden feeling of disappointment and/or fear
example: When Polly opened her exam results and saw that she had failed Maths, her heart sank.
20. idiom: cry your eyes / heart out
literal meaning: cry a lot
example: ‘What have you done to Martha? She’s upstairs in her bedroom, crying her eyes out!’ ‘I haven’t done nothing, mum! Well – she took my phone, so I chucked her doll in the bin.’
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