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Tags: cliche, words, interesting, list, a chip off the old block, English, old, alphabetical

A cliché is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. The term is generally used in a negative context. As a journalism major, I've been taught to never use ANY of these:

  •  
  • a chip off the old block
  •  
  • a deer in the headlights
  •  
  • a drop in the bucket
  •  
  • a fish out of water
  •  
  • a fly in the ointment
  •  
  • a horse of a different color
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  • a knockoff
  •  
  • a long row to hoe
  •  
  • a nail-biter
  •  
  • a penny for your thoughts
  •  
  • a pox on both your houses
  •  
  • a quick buck
  •  
  • a stitch in time saves nine
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  • a tongue-lashing
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  • ace in the hole or ace up his sleeve (re-entry for duplicate)
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  • airing dirty laundry
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  • an uphill battle
  •  
  • and the rest is history
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  • another nail in the coffin
  •  
  • ants in his pants
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  • as dense as a London Fog
  •  
  • as easy as falling off a log
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  • as snug as a bug in a rug
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  • as useful as a lead balloon
  •  
  • at the drop of a hat
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  • back from the dead
  •  
  • back in the saddle
  •  
  • back to the salt mines
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  • bare bones
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  • barking up the wrong tree
  •  
  • beat a dead horse
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  • born with a silver spoon in his mouth
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  • burn your bridges
  •  
  • busier than a one-armed paper hanger
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  • by the skin of my teeth
  •  
  • can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
  •  
  • cash cow
  •  
  • cat got your tongue?
  •  
  • clean your clock
  •  
  • come hell or high water
  •  
  • cooking with gas now
  •  
  • cool as a cucumber
  •  
  • cost an arm and a leg
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  • couldn't hit the broad side of a barn
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  • cry over spilled milk
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  • dig yourself into a hole
  •  
  • don't reinvent the wheel
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  • dot the I's and cross the T's
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  • dumber than a box of rocks
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  • easy as 123
  •  
  • eat lead!
  •  
  • eats like a horse
  •  
  • everything but the kitchen sink
  •  
  • everything's coming up roses
  •  
  • fall head over heels
  •  
  • fell through the cracks
  •  
  • fighting like cats and dogs
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  • firing on all cylinders
  •  
  • fits like a hand in a glove (also: fits like a glove)
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  • flat as a pancake
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  • free as a bird
  •  
  • get a word in edgewise
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  • get cleaned out
  •  
  • get off on the wrong foot
  •  
  • get over the hump
  •  
  • give the shirt off your back
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  • give them an inch and they'll take a mile
  •  
  • go against the grain
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  • good things come to he who waits
  •  
  • good to the last drop
  •  
  • has egg on his face
  •  
  • he's all thumbs
  •  
  • his bark is worse than his bite
  •  
  • hit pay dirt
  •  
  • hold your horses
  •  
  • home is where you hang your hat
  •  
  • hunker down
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  • I could whip you with one arm tied behind my back
  •  
  • I need that like I need a hole in the head
  •  
  • I wasn't born yesterday
  •  
  • I'd lose my head if it weren't attached
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  • Idle hands are the devil's workshop
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  • if the shoe fits, wear it
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  • if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen
  •  
  • I'll eat my hat
  •  
  • in two shakes of a lamb's tail
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  • in your face
  •  
  • is it soup yet?
  •  
  • it won't fly
  •  
  • it's in the mail
  •  
  • jump down your throat
  •  
  • jump the gun
  •  
  • just the tip of the iceberg
  •  
  • keeping up with the Joneses
  •  
  • keeps his cards close to his vest
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  • kick some butt (or ass)
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  • knee-high to a grasshopper
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  • knock it out of the park
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  • knockout blow
  •  
  • know it like the back of my hand
  •  
  • know which side your bread is buttered on
  •  
  • last but not least
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  • lay my cards on the table
  •  
  • leave no stone unturned
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  • like a bull in a china shop
  •  
  • like a kid on a candy store
  •  
  • like a knife through hot butter
  •  
  • like night and day
  •  
  • lock, stock, and barrel
  •  
  • looking for a needle in a haystack
  •  
  • love is blind
  •  
  • madder than a wet hen
  •  
  • making a mountain out of a mole hill
  •  
  • making money hand over fist
  •  
  • many hands make light work
  •  
  • miss the boat
  •  
  • money doesn't grow on trees
  •  
  • my brain is fried
  •  
  • nailed it
  •  
  • nice guys finish last
  •  
  • no pain, no gain
  •  
  • no skin off my nose
  •  
  • no strings attached
  •  
  • not for all the tea in china
  •  
  • not playing with a full deck
  •  
  • not the ghost of a chance
  •  
  • off kilter
  •  
  • old as dirt
  •  
  • on the same page
  •  
  • on track
  •  
  • one man's garbage is another man's treasure
  •  
  • one picture is worth a thousand words
  •  
  • out of gas
  •  
  • out of the woods
  •  
  • paint yourself into a corner
  •  
  • play the hand you're dealt
  •  
  • play with the big boys (or girls)
  •  
  • pound the pavement
  •  
  • pull the wool over your eyes
  •  
  • put it on the back burner
  •  
  • put that in your pipe and smoke it
  •  
  • raking in the money (or dough)
  •  
  • rattle your cage
  •  
  • reopen an old wound
  •  
  • right up your alley
  •  
  • rock the boat
  •  
  • Rome wasn't built in a day
  •  
  • rotten to the core
  •  
  • rub salt in the wound
  •  
  • run circles around (also run rings around)
  •  
  • same song and dance
  •  
  • season's greetings
  •  
  • see the glass as half empty
  •  
  • send up a trial balloon
  •  
  • something to sink your teeth into
  •  
  • soup to nuts
  •  
  • step on your toes
  •  
  • stop on a dime
  •  
  • stuck out like a sore thumb
  •  
  • sweep it under the rug
  •  
  • swim against the tide
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  • take a long walk off a short pier
  •  
  • take a picture, it will last longer
  •  
  • test the waters
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  • the 800-pound gorilla
  •  
  • the blind leading the blind
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  • the cat's meow
  •  
  • the grass is always greener on the other side
  •  
  • the lights are on buy nobody's home
  •  
  • the old ball and chain
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  • the red carpet treatment
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  • the whole enchilada
  •  
  • throw gasoline on the fire
  •  
  • tilting at windmills
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  • time on your (or my) hands
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  • to deep six something
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  • to sugar coat something (also candy-coat something)
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  • too many chefs spoil the broth
  •  
  • toot your own horn
  •  
  • turn over a new leaf
  •  
  • under a microscope
  •  
  • until the cows come home
  •  
  • variety is the spice of life
  •  
  • waiting for the dust to settle
  •  
  • waiting for the other shoe to drop
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  • waiting for your ship to come in
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  • walking on egg shells
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  • welcome to the club
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  • we're gonna tie one on tonight
  •  
  • were you born in a barn?
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  • what a zoo -- or -- this place is a zoo
  •  
  • what's wrong with this picture?
  •  
  • when all is said and done
  •  
  • when hell freezes over
  •  
  • when pigs fly
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  • where there's smoke there's fire
  •  
  • wipe the slate clean
  •  
  • with a fine tooth comb
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  • with one hand tied behind my back
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  • work your fingers to the bone
  •  
  • works like a dog
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  • yank your chain
  •  
  • you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink
  •  
  • you can take that to the bank
  •  
  • you can't fit a square peg in a round hole
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  • you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube
  •  
  • you could have knocked me over with a feather
  •  
  • you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet
  •  
  • you lost me
  •  
  • you make a better door than a window
  •  
  • you snooze, you loose
  •  
  • zip your lip
  •  
  • a small circle of friends
  •  
  • can't a cat look at a queen?
  •  
  • Take a slow boat to china.
  •  
  • that's why we keep score
  •  
  • Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're getting.
  •  
  • not enough room to swing a cat
  •  
  • one for the road
  •  
  • fork it over
  •  
  • fill the bill
  •  
  • The empty can rattles the most.
  •  
  • lo and behold
  •  
  • without further ado
  •  
  • hit the nail on the head
  •  
  • youthful folly
  •  
  • as popular as a red haired step child
  •  
  • man in the moon
  •  
  • love is like a rose
  •  
  • don't give up your day job
  •  
  • you and who's army?
  •  
  • he has been shooting for keeps and lost
  •  
  • great open spaces
  •  
  • thanks but no thanks
  •  
  • and so to bed
  •  
  • God bless a milk cow
  •  
  • quick off the mark
  •  
  • one fell swoop
  •  
  • Christmas comes but once a year
  •  
  • been there, done that, got the t-shirt
  •  
  • let it fly
  •  
  • it takes guts
  •  
  • free and easy
  •  
  • get her into the sack
  •  
  • beauty is only skin deep
  •  
  • little bird told me
  •  
  • A few fleas are good for the dog
  •  
  • quick on the draw
  •  
  • saving grace
  •  
  • neither rhyme nor reason
  •  
  • just be yourserlf
  •  
  • a marriage made in heaven
  •  
  • duck the question
  •  
  • sight for sore eyes
  •  
  • as cold as a witches tit
  •  
  • eat my shorts
  •  
  • knuckle down
  •  
  • bag of bones bag of tricks
  •  
  • part and parcel
  •  
  • mad as a wet hen
  •  
  • It shines like a diamond in a goats ass!
  •  
  • grapes of wrath
  •  
  • big honcho
  •  
  • high and dry
  •  
  • babe in the woods
  •  
  • as every schoolboy knows
  •  
  • like two tomcats in a gunny sack
  •  
  • in a trice
  •  
  • a whole new ball game
  •  
  • Got one foot in the grave.
  •  
  • silver-tongued orator
  •  
  • turn the corner
  •  
  • cover your tracks
  •  
  • divide the spoils
  •  
  • to have a knack for it
  •  
  • Rocket scientist
  •  
  • when the cat's away, the mice will play
  •  
  • gray eminence
  •  
  • a tough nut to crack
  •  
  • get your ducks in a row
  •  
  • read him like an open book
  •  
  • kick in the shins
  •  
  • the rocky road to success
  •  
  • dumber than homemade dirt
  •  
  • kill two birds with one stone
  •  
  • corporal's guard
  •  
  • believe in yourself
  •  
  • life of Reilly
  •  
  • playin poker with the pros (he's dead)
  •  
  • you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
  •  
  • so let it be written--so let it be done

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    Comments:

    The most extensive list I've seen so far. Very impressive.
    Comment by: djinnifer


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