80+ love idioms in English: Meanings and examples
elsaspeakadmin
August 28, 2026
Idioms
From “head over heels” and “love at first sight” to “tie the knot” and “a match made in heaven,” love idioms can make conversations about relationships more expressive and engaging. Whether you're describing a new crush, a strong relationship, heartbreak, or marriage, this guide covers 80+ love idioms in English, along with their meanings and examples to help you talk about love more naturally.
80+ common love idioms in English
Idioms for falling in love
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Fall head over heels | To fall deeply and completely in love with someone | She fell head over heels for him after their first date. |
| Fall for someone | To start developing romantic feelings for someone | I think she's falling for her coworker. |
| Love at first sight | The experience of falling in love with someone the first time you see them | They say it was love at first sight. |
| Be swept off your feet | To become suddenly and strongly attracted to someone | He completely swept me off my feet with his thoughtful gestures. |
| Have a crush on someone | To have romantic feelings for someone, usually without being in a relationship | She has a crush on someone in her English class. |
| Catch feelings | To start developing romantic feelings for someone | We agreed to keep things casual, but I started catching feelings. |
| Have butterflies in your stomach | To feel nervous and excited because of romantic attraction | I always get butterflies in my stomach before seeing him. |
| Take a shine to someone | To begin liking or feeling attracted to someone | To begin liking or feeling attracted to someone |
| Lose your heart to someone | To fall deeply in love with someone | He lost his heart to her during their trip to Paris. |
| Have a thing for someone | To feel a romantic or sexual attraction toward someone | I think Mark has a thing for his neighbor. |
| Be smitten with someone | To be strongly attracted to or infatuated with someone | She's completely smitten with her new boyfriend. |
Idioms for love about being deeply in love
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Be head over heels in love | To fall deeply and completely in love with someone | They're head over heels in love and can't stop talking about each other. |
| Be madly in love | To love someone very strongly | She's madly in love with her partner. |
| Be crazy about someone | To like or love someone very much | He's crazy about his girlfriend and always surprises her with little gifts. |
| Be besotted with someone | To be extremely attracted to and fascinated by someone | He was completely besotted with her from the moment they met. |
| Be devoted to someone | To be extremely loyal and dedicated to someone you love | She is devoted to her husband and always supports him. |
| Carry a torch for someone | To secretly or continuously have romantic feelings for someone | He still carries a torch for his high school sweetheart. |
| Have a soft spot for someone | To have a special affection for someone | I have a soft spot for my childhood best friend. |
| Have eyes only for someone | To be interested romantically in only one person | He's completely loyal and has eyes only for his wife. |
| The apple of someone's eye | A person who is especially loved or cherished by someone | Their youngest daughter is the apple of their eye. |
| Wear your heart on your sleeve | To openly show your emotions and romantic feelings | She wears her heart on her sleeve, so everyone knows how she feels about him. |
| Be wrapped around someone's finger | To be so devoted to someone that they can easily influence you | He's completely wrapped around her finger and always does what she asks. |
| Give someone your heart | To give someone your love and trust completely | She decided to give him her heart and trust him completely. |
Idioms about love, couples and relationships
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Be made for each other | To be very well suited to each other as romantic partners | They’re clearly made for each other. |
| Be a match made in heaven | To be a couple who seem perfectly suited to each other | Dave and May are a match made in heaven. |
| Be on the same wavelength | To understand and think similarly to your partner | We rarely argue because we're always on the same wavelength. |
| Be two peas in a pod | To be very similar and closely connected | My sister and her husband are like two peas in a pod. |
| Get on like a house on fire | To become friendly and comfortable with someone very quickly | They got on like a house on fire when they first met. |
| Hit it off | To immediately like and get along well with someone | They hit it off at the party and have been dating ever since. |
| Go steady | To have a regular and committed romantic relationship | They've been going steady since their senior year of college. |
| Be joined at the hip | To spend almost all your time together | Those two are joined at the hip, they go everywhere together. |
| Be inseparable | To be unable or unwilling to stay apart from each other | The couple has been inseparable since they started dating. |
| Be in someone's corner | To support someone, especially during difficult times | I know she'll always be in my corner when things get tough. |
| Have someone's back | To support and protect someone when they need help | Don't worry about the presentation. I've got your back. |
| See eye to eye | To agree with someone about something | We don't always see eye to eye, but we respect each other's opinions. |
| Be on good terms | To have a friendly and positive relationship with someone | Even after their breakup, they're still on good terms. |
Idioms for love about attraction and dating
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Catch someone's eye | To attract someone's attention, especially romantically | She caught his eye as soon as she walked into the café. |
| Turn someone's head | To attract someone's attention or make them interested in you | Her confidence and sense of humor really turned his head. |
| Make eyes at someone | To look at someone in a way that shows romantic interest | He kept making eyes at her across the room. |
| Have the hots for someone | To feel a strong physical attraction to someone | I think he has the hots for his new coworker. |
| Play hard to get | To pretend not to be interested in someone in order to make them more interested in you | She was playing hard to get, so he wasn't sure whether she liked him. |
| Flirt with someone | To behave toward someone in a way that shows romantic or sexual interest | He was flirting with her all evening. |
| Sweep someone off their feet | To make someone fall deeply in love with you | His romantic gesture completely swept her off her feet. |
| Ask someone out | To invite someone to go on a date with you | He finally asked her out after weeks of flirting. |
| Go on a date | To spend time with someone in a romantic context | We're going on a date this Saturday. |
| Set your sights on someone | To decide that you want to pursue someone romantically | He set his sights on her as soon as they met. |
| Fancy someone | To feel romantically attracted to someone, especially in British English | Do you fancy anyone in your English class? |
| Be attracted to someone | To feel romantic or physical interest in someone | She was immediately attracted to him because of his confidence. |
Idioms about showing love and affection
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Go the extra mile for someone | To make an extra effort to help or please someone you care about | She always goes the extra mile for her partner. |
| Stand by someone | To remain loyal and supportive of someone | I'll always stand by you, no matter what happens. |
| Put someone first | To treat someone's needs or happiness as more important than your own | He always puts his family first. |
| Treat someone like royalty | To treat someone with exceptional care, attention, or affection | He treats his wife like royalty and always makes her feel special. |
| Be there for someone | To provide emotional or practical support when someone needs you | I'll always be there for you when you need me. |
| Give someone a hug | To embrace someone as an expression of affection or comfort | She gave her boyfriend a hug before he left for work. |
| Give someone a kiss | To kiss someone as a sign of affection | He gave her a kiss before saying goodnight. |
| Shower someone with affection | To give someone a lot of love and affectionate attention | The grandparents showered their new grandchild with affection. |
| Give someone a helping hand | To help someone you care about | She gave her partner a helping hand when he was moving house. |
| Take care of someone | To look after someone and make sure they are safe or well | She stayed home to take care of her sick partner. |
| Look after someone | To care for and support someone | He promised to look after her when she was feeling unwell |
| Be kind to someone | To treat someone with care, warmth, and consideration | The best way to show love is to be kind to each other |
Idioms of love about marriage
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Tie the knot | To get married | After dating for five years, they finally decided to tie the knot. |
| Get hitched | To get married | They're getting hitched in a small ceremony next summer. |
| Walk down the aisle | To get married, especially in a traditional wedding ceremony | She's excited to walk down the aisle with the love of her life. |
| Pop the question | To ask someone to marry you | He popped the question during their trip to Italy. |
| Ask for someone's hand in marriage | To formally ask someone to marry you | He asked her parents for her hand in marriage before proposing. |
| Take the plunge | To make an important and sometimes risky decision, including getting married | After years of dating, they decided to take the plunge and get married. |
| Say “I do” | To formally agree to marry someone during a wedding ceremony | They said “I do” in front of their closest friends and family. |
| Settle down | To begin living a stable life, often by marrying and starting a family | They decided it was time to settle down and buy a house. |
| Start a family | To have children and establish a family unit | They hope to start a family in the next few years. |
| Live happily ever after | To live a happy life together, especially after marriage | The fairy tale ends with the couple living happily ever after. |
| Better half | A person's spouse or romantic partner, often used affectionately | I'm going to the concert with my better half. |
Idioms for love about heartbreak and breakups
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Break someone's heart | To cause someone deep emotional pain, especially by ending a romantic relationship | He broke her heart when he ended their relationship. |
| Have your heart broken | To experience intense sadness after a romantic relationship ends | She had her heart broken after their five-year relationship ended. |
| Fall out of love | To stop having romantic feelings for someone | They slowly fell out of love after years of growing apart. |
| Get over someone | To recover emotionally after a romantic relationship ends | It took him months to get over his ex-girlfriend. |
| Mend a broken heart | To recover emotionally from heartbreak | Spending time with friends helped her mend her broken heart. |
| Go your separate ways | To end a relationship and continue your lives separately | They decided to go their separate ways after realizing they wanted different things. |
| Call it quits | To decide to end a relationship or activity | After months of arguing, they decided to call it quits. |
| Break things off | To end a romantic relationship | She broke things off because she no longer felt happy in the relationship. |
| Have a change of heart | To change your feelings, opinion, or decision about something | He was going to leave, but he had a change of heart and decided to stay. |
| Move on | To emotionally recover and begin a new stage of life after a breakup | It took her a while, but she's finally ready to move on. |
| Let someone go | To accept that a relationship has ended and stop holding on to it | Sometimes you have to let someone go to find happiness again. |
| There are plenty more fish in the sea | There are many other potential romantic partners available | Don't worry about the breakup, there are plenty more fish in the sea. |
| Cry over spilled milk | To remain upset about something that has already happened and cannot be changed | There's no point crying over spilled milk after the breakup. |
| Time heals all wounds | Emotional pain tends to become less painful as time passes | Don't rush your healing, remember that time heals all wounds. |
English idioms about love and complicated relationships
| Idioms | Meaning | Examples |
| Be on the rocks | To be experiencing serious problems in a relationship | Their relationship has been on the rocks for several months. |
| Have a love-hate relationship | To have a relationship involving both strong positive and negative feelings | They have had a love-hate relationship since primary school. |
| Walk on eggshells | To behave very carefully to avoid upsetting someone | I feel like I'm walking on eggshells whenever we talk about money. |
| Give someone the cold shoulder | To deliberately ignore or treat someone in an unfriendly way | She gave him the cold shoulder after their argument |
| String someone along | To keep someone interested in a relationship without intending to commit | He kept stringing her along without ever making the relationship official.
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| Lead someone on | To make someone believe you are romantically interested when you are not | I didn't mean to lead him on, I just wanted to be friends. |
| Play games | To behave in a manipulative or insincere way in a romantic relationship | I'm looking for a serious relationship, so I don't have time for people who play games. |
| Be caught between two stools | To be unable to choose between two alternatives or situations | She was caught between two stools when both people asked her to choose. |
| Be in hot water | To be in trouble with someone, often because of something you have done | He's in hot water with his partner after forgetting their anniversary. |
| Rub someone the wrong way | To annoy or irritate someone | His sarcastic comments really rub her the wrong way. |
| Have a falling-out | To have an argument that damages a relationship | The two friends had a falling-out over a misunderstanding. |
| Bury the hatchet | To end a conflict and make peace with someone | After years of arguing, they finally decided to bury the hatchet. |
| Sweep something under the rug | To avoid dealing with a relationship problem by hiding or ignoring it. | You can't keep sweeping your relationship problems under the rug. |
How to learn love idioms effectively
Learning idioms is easier when you study them in context and practice using them regularly. Try these strategies to remember and use love idioms more naturally:
- Group idioms by topic: Organize idioms into themes such as attraction, relationships, marriage, affection, and heartbreak to make them easier to remember.
- Learn through context: Read idioms in sentences, stories, movies, or conversations to understand how and when they are naturally used.
- Create your own examples: Write sentences based on your own experiences or imaginary situations to make each idiom more memorable.
- Practice listening: Listen to podcasts, movies, songs, or conversations in English to hear how native speakers use love idioms in real-life contexts.
- Practice pronunciation: Say each idiom aloud and pay attention to word stress, connected speech, and intonation to sound more natural.
- Use spaced repetition: Review idioms at gradually increasing intervals to reinforce them in your long-term memory.
- Practice speaking with real-life scenarios: Create situations such as talking about a crush, going on a date, getting married, or dealing with a breakup, then use relevant idioms as you speak.
- Use ELSA Speak for pronunciation and speaking practice: Practice saying sentences that contain idioms about love and get AI-powered feedback to improve your pronunciation and speaking skills.
Learning love idioms in English can help you express feelings and relationships in a more natural and engaging way. With consistent listening and speaking practice, these idioms will become easier to understand and use confidently. For more English vocabulary lessons and practical learning tips, explore the Vocabulary category on the ELSA Speak blog.
