20 Idioms based on Time

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These are English idioms based on time. You can also try this Time Idioms Quiz

You can say "it's only a question of time" before saying what you think will happen in the future.

If you have a whale of a time, you have a great time and really enjoy yourself.

If something occurs around the clock, it goes on all day and all night.

If someone is behind the times, they are old-fashioned and their ideas are out of date.

If something happens day to day, it's part of the usual daily routine.

If something will be the way it is "for the time being", it will be that way for a limited period of time only.

If you do something "from now on", you do it from now until some unknown time in the future.

If you do something from time to time, you do it occasionally, but not very often.

If you talk about something "in the long run", you mean over a long period of time.

If you say it's high time something was done, you think it should have been done already, and is overdue.

If you do something just in time, or just in the nick of time, you do it just before time runs out.

You kill time when you do something to amuse yourself while waiting for something.

If you do something now and then, or now and again, you do it occasionally.

If you say it's now or never, you mean that something has to be done now or it can't be done at all.

If something happens once in a blue moon, it happens very rarely.

The moment of truth is a time when the truth about something is revealed, or when an important decision is made.

You can say "the year dot", or "the year one", when you're talking about a very, very long time ago.

If you do something time after time, you do it again and again, or repeatedly.

If you've done something time and time again, you've done it many times, or you've done it repeatedly.

If something has happened year in, year out, it's happened every year for many years in a row.