People love to use creative and figurative language to say something is “easy”. For English language learners, this makes it hard to understand what people are saying.
But when you understand these great similes, idioms and metaphors for “easy”, it can be fun to use these phrases in speech.
My favorite metaphors for easy are:
- This task is a walk in the park
- This task is a piece of cake
- This task is child’s play
There are also some great similes for easy like:
- Like taking candy from a baby
- As easy as breathing
- As easy as shooting fish in a barrel
Metaphors for Easy
1. The Task was a Walk in the Park
To say that a task is a walk in the park is to say that the task was easy. You might not be literally walking in the park, but you are saying that something is as easy as walking in the park (in its simile form).
Whenever someone says “it’s a walk in the park”, native English speakers know that they’re really saying “it’s easy”.
The idiom “a walk in the park” (meaning easy) might get its meaning from the fact a walk in a park is easy, compared to hiking a mountain, for example.
Also see: Metaphors for Hard Work
2. The Task was a Piece of Cake
To say that something was “a piece of cake” also means that something was easy. We know that this idiom comes from the 1930s Royal British Air Force, but no one knows exactly how it came to be.
We can call this a metaphor because a task isn’t literally a piece of cake. We’re saying something is something that it is not, making it a metaphor. (But do note that it’s also idiomatic!)
3. The Task was Child’s Play
Playing like a child is easy! It’s fun, full of creativity, and doesn’t really involve failure – ever! So, when we compare something else to child’s play, we’re also calling it easy.
But we’re going beyond making a comparison here. We’re actually saying the task is child’s play, when it isn’t. That makes this more than a simile, but an idiom!
4. He Said it was a Cake Walk
The idiom “cake walk” gets its name from a dance invented by African Americans in the South in the 19th Century. It must have been a pretty easy dance!
Once upon a time, when people said something was a cake walk, they might have literally meant it. But today, it’s simply a metaphor (and idiom) for anything that’s easy.
Today, most people don’t know that this is the origin. We just know that when we say something is a cake walk, we don’t literally mean the dance. We mean that the task was easy.
Similes for Easy
5. I’m Easy Like Sunday Morning
The phrase “easy like Sunday morning” can be used to refer to someone who is relaxed and easy-going. Usually, Sunday morning is the most relaxed day of the week because you don’t have to rush out of bed and don’t have any job to go to.
While this is an idiom, it’s also a simile. That’s because you’re saying you’re like something else.
6. The Task was Like Taking Candy from a Baby
Taking candy from a baby is supposedly very easy (although whoever came up with this saying clearly doesn’t have a toddler).
Nevertheless, the phrase does mean that you’re doing something that’s so easy that it seems unfair. An adult clearly has an unfair advantage over a baby at any task!
When we say something is like taking candy from a baby, we’re employing simile to make our point.
7. It was as Easy as Breathing
We breathe without even thinking. It’s just about the easiest thing someone can do! So, when you say a task is “as easy as breathing”, you’re saying it was an incredibly easy thing to do. You might even be saying that it’s second nature to you, just like breathing is.
8. It was as Easy as Falling off a Log
It takes no effort at all to fall off a log! In fact, if you’re balancing on a log, it takes effort to stay on the log!
So, if you use the simile as easy as falling off a log, you would be creating an image in someone’s mind of someone doing something so easy that they could do it with no effort at all!
9. I took to it like a Fish to Water
When you drop a fish in water, it’ll start swimming instantly! It won’t even think about it.
So, when we say we “took to a task” like “fish to water”, it means we found a task really easy to do from the very first moment.
For example, if you give a child a basketball and she starts sinking hoops from her first throw, we can say she took to basketball like a fish to water.
10. It was as Easy as Shooting Fish in a Barrell
Imagine trying to shoot fish. One person is shooting fish in an ocean where the fish can swim away under rocks easily. The other person is shooting them in a tiny barrel where they can’t escape. Whose task is easier?
And that’s where the phrase “like shooting fish in a barrel” comes from. It highlights just how easy a task is.
11. It was like Selling Ice Cream on a Summer’s Day
Selling ice cream in the middle of winter is hard work. But imagine selling it on a super hot day on the beach. People would be lined up around the street to get some!
So, this simile is saying that the task you’re doing was incredibly easy.
You could come up with countless similes for easy just like this one. Simply think of something that seems really easy, and compare it to what you’re doing by using the word “like” in the comparison.
11. The Task was Easy as Pie
The phrase “easy as pie” is an American version of the British phrase “piece of cake”. It means that something was super easy. No one really knows where this phrase originated.
This is an odd phrase, because you could consider it to be an idiom, but it’s also saying something is easy as so we might also call it a simile. Sometimes, language forms overlap in messy ways like this.
Idioms for Easy
12. The Task was Rigged in my Favor
A task can literally be rigged in your favor. For example, if you were playing a game where you know you’ll be the winner because it was designed so that you’d win, then it’s being used in the literal sense.
But usually, we use the phrase “rigged in my favor” as an idiom to mean that something seemed unfairly easy. For example, you can say that a beginner’s level of a video game was rigged in your favor if you felt you could complete it really fast.
13. I was Born with It
We use the idiom “born with it” to imply someone is simply very good at something without having to put much effort in.
Consider, for example, a famous baseball player from history like Babe Ruth. You look at how easily he would hit a home run and thing “wow, he’s born with it”. Of course, no one’s born knowing how to play baseball. Some people just get better at it than other!
More Metaphors: Metaphors for Home
14. I Can Do it with my Eyes Closed
To say you can do something with your eyes closed means that you can do it easily. You’re implying that you can even do a task if you had a handicap, such as the inability to see.
We usually use this idiom to refer to something we have done a thousand times before. Think, for example, about how many times you have tied your shoelaces. You may now find it so easy that you “could do it with your eyes closed”.
15. I can do it in my Sleep
To say you can do something in your sleep is a very similar idiom to the above one about doing things with your eyes closed. It means that you feel you are so competent at a task that you could do it without thinking.
16. It’s Second Nature
A synonym for the term “second nature” might be “instinct”. If something is second nature to you, it means you’re so good at it that you can do it out of instinct.
Usually, we use this term about someone doing something that they find very easy. For example, you could say Michael Jordan throwing a free throw is “second nature” to him because he can do it so well.
The term refers to the idea that something feels natural to do after you’ve done it many times before.
Related:
Conclusion
There are many idioms, similes and metaphors for easy, and this is just a glimpse at some of the most common ones.
You can even come up with your own similes and metaphors. To create a metaphor for easy, think of a task that’s easy and say one task is the other task. By saying is, you’re using figurative language. But if you say is like, you’re being literal, and then it becomes a simile.
I’m Chris and I run this website – a resource about symbolism, metaphors, idioms, and a whole lot more! Thanks for dropping by.