26 Idioms beginning with R

You can say "it's raining cats and dogs" if it's raining very hard.

If you think you got a raw deal, you think you weren't treated fairly or as well as other people.

Something is a ray of sunshine if it brings happiness to someone.

Something is a recipe for disaster if it's going to cause trouble or serious problems.

A red-letter day is a day that is very important for some reason.

You can say an experience is a roller coaster, or a roller-coaster ride, if it involves many emotional highs and lows, or really good times alternating with really difficult times.

If you rack your brains, or rack you brain, you try hard to remember something or think of a solution to a problem or a puzzle.

If you go from rags to riches, you start out very poor and you become very rich.

Your raison d'etre is your reason for living, or the most important thing in your life.

If you're raring to go, you're full of energy and you can't wait to get started on whatever it is you're doing.

If you reach for the moon, or reach for the stars, you are aiming to achieve something great, or do something very callenging.

When you read between the lines you try to understand what someone implies, but doesn't openly state, when they say or write something.

You recharge your batteries if you do something to regain your energy after a period of hard work.

A red light district is the area of a town or city in which prostitutes work.

Strict adherence to rules and regulations so that a procedure seems to take longer than necessary.

If something is right down your alley, or right up your alley, it would be perfect for you or ideal for your skills and interests.

If something is right up your street, it would be perfect for you or ideal for your skills and interests.

If something rings a bell, it sounds familiar or you think you've heard it before.

If you rock the boat, you do or say something that will upset people by changing a situation that they don't want changed.

If you rub it in, you keep talking about something that embarrasses or upsets someone.

If you ruffle someone's feathers, you do something to upset or annoy them.

If someone runs out of steam, they run out of energy or enthusiasm. If something runs out of steam, it loses momentum and slows down.

If you run rings around someone, or run circles around them, you do something much better than they do.

Something is run-of-the-mill if it is ordinary and nothing special.

The rat race is the highly competitive and stressful world of work and business.

You can say something is the real McCoy if it's genuine, and not a fake or a copy.