Tick-tock! | 5 English idioms to talk about time

Time controls everything. Your deadlines, your plans, and even how long you get to sleep. And more often than not, we all wish we had more time. No wonder English has so many idioms to talk about it. Here are five you'll hear all the time.

In the nick of time

If you do something in the nick of time, it means you finish it just before it's too late — with almost no time left.

The phrase comes from an old meaning of "nick," which meant a precise moment (like a tiny mark showing the exact time). So if you make it in the nick of time, it means you arrive right at the last second before missing out.

Here are some examples:

"In the nick of time, he stretched out and scored the game-winning touchdown."

"The firefighters arrived in the nick of time to save the house."

"She grabbed the last ticket in the nick of time before they sold out."

Burning the midnight oil

When you stay up late working or studying, you're burning the midnight oil. Maybe you've got a big deadline coming up, or there's just too much to do and not enough hours in the day. Either way, this idiom describes those long nights when sleep has to wait.

The phrase comes from a time when people used oil lamps for light — so working late meant literally burning more oil.

Some example sentences are:

"They burned the midnight oil making last-minute wedding preparations."

"We had to burn the midnight oil to get the project done on time."

"He spent all night burning the midnight oil before his final exam."

Against the clock

There are days when you feel like you have plenty of time. Other times, you're scrambling to finish before the clock runs out. When that happens, we say that you're working against the clock. It's an expression we use when time is running out and the pressure is on.

For example:

"The team was working against the clock to fix the server outage."

"I was racing against the clock to finish my assignment before midnight."

"With the convention just days away, they were against the clock to finalize all the details."

Time flies

One moment, you're starting something new. The next, you're wondering where all the time went. We say time flies when time feels like it's passing quickly — especially when you're busy or enjoying yourself. It doesn't mean time is literally speeding up, just that it feels shorter than expected.

Some examples:

"Time flies when you're having fun with friends."

"We've been married for 10 years already? Wow, time flies!"

"Looking back at old memories, I realize how fast time flies."

On the dot

Some people are always running late. Others? They show up on the dot — which means right on time, down to the exact minute. We use this idiom when talking about punctuality, whether it's catching a train, starting a meeting, or setting an alarm.

Here are some examples:

"The meeting starts at 9 AM on the dot, so don't be late."

"Her alarm goes off at 6:30 on the dot every morning."

"We have to submit the report by noon on the dot."

No matter how hard we try to manage time, it keeps moving, whether we like it or not. But now you can somehow keep up with it — on the language side of things, at least.

Since we're talking about time, let's not waste any more. Jump into our Daily Dose of Denglisch Docs to learn more English expressions.