Idiom
id·i·om
- A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements
- An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up.
Synonyms: phrase.
Usage: The foreigner was utterly confused when his American host handed him an umbrella and told him it was “raining cats and dogs,” an idiom meaning that it is raining heavily.

