What Are Examples of Idioms Related to Science?
What are examples of idioms related to science? A good example would be to “blind someone with science” which means to confuse someone with language that is highly technical. Another would be “to have something down to a science” which means something is totally understood and managed extremely well. Let’s look at more idioms that refer to science and some that are included in science jargon.
Examples of Idioms Related to Science
Science is a very broad field and there are many idioms that could be related to science. Here are some examples (the idiomatic expression is listed first, along with the meaning after it):
- All singing all dancing - latest version of something with newest features
- Bells and whistles - all the features of a new product
- Blow a fuse - get very angry
- Fire on all cylinders - everything is working well
- Garbage in garbage out - refers to a computer system or database
- Get the wires crossed - not understanding someone
- Light years ahead - out in front with new developments or successes
- Not rocket science - easy to do or understand
- On the same wavelength - means to have the same ideas and opinions
- Silver surfer - an older person who uses the Internet
- Sputnik moment - when you realize you need to work harder to catch up
- Well-oiled machine - anything that functions as it should
Here are some idioms that refer to our five senses, animals, and food:
- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - not take a risk and lose everything
- Actions speak louder than words - take action instead of just talking about it.
- Apple of my eye - a person who is loved
- Bark up the wrong tree - made a wrong decision
- Bite your tongue - to not talk
- Change horses in midstream - make different plans after starting something
- Cry wolf - false alarm
- Eat crow - admit you were wrong
- Half-baked - a plan that has not been carefully made or thought about
- Hit the bulls-eye - make the correct point
- Hot potato - a controversial issue
- Lend me your ear - ask someone to listen
- Make a mountain out of a molehill - make unimportant things important
- Monkey business - unscrupulous actions
- Piece of cake - something easy to do
- Polish the apple - to flatter
- Smell a rat - suspect something bad
- Take with a grain of salt - only believe part of something
- Turn a blind eye - ignoring something that is unethical or illegal
- Worth one’s salt - being a good employee or being worth the money
Just for Fun
Now you know some examples of idioms (or expressions) related to science. To further enrich your language fun, here are some examples of scientific jargon for your perusal.
- Ambulance Chasing: in science this means doing research for fame or funding.
- Auroral Chorus: sounds made by the electromagnetic effects of auroras that are in the low frequencies
- Conehead: an intelligent or brainy person
- Drylabbing: faking the laboratory results. Sometimes this is done when there hasn’t even been a test conducted.
- Ecotone: where two ecosystems overlap
- Goldilocks: refers to moderate characteristics like in the Goldilocks zone which is an area that is habitable
- Grandmother cell: the neuron that fires when you recognize someone
- Molecular gastronomy: applying scientific principles to cooking
- Rusticle: an underwater formation made by rust on a sunken iron ship.
- Socks and knocks: sulfur and nitrogen oxides found in pollution
- Trowel fodder: cheap, unskilled labor used at archaeological digs.
- Umbraphile: a person who is intensely interested in eclipses.
- Unk-unk: stands for “unknown unknown” which is a problem, usually in engineering, that has not been thought of, imagined, or anticipated.
- Zeitgeber: a natural environmental cue, like light or temperature, that influences biological rhythms.
So, now you know some idioms related to science as well as some fun science jargon.