idiom · informal
burn the midnight oil
UK/ˌbɜːn ðə ˌmɪd.naɪt ˈɔɪl/US/ˌbɝn ðə ˌmɪd.naɪt ˈɔɪl/burn·the·MID·night·oil
speakingtask2
to work or study late into the night, often to meet a deadline
Examples
“I had to burn the midnight oil to finish my dissertation.”
“Students often burn the midnight oil before finals.”
“She burned the midnight oil preparing slides for the presentation.”
Band 8 sentence
“During the revision period I had to burn the midnight oil to catch up with the heavy reading list.”
Collocations
- burn the midnight oil studying for exams
- burn the midnight oil to meet a deadline
Word family
burn the midnight oil idiom
Common mistakes
I burned the midnight oil to finish assignment.→I burned the midnight oil to finish the assignment.
Say it for a higher band
5study late→6stay up late→7+burn the midnight oil
Synonyms
study late
work late
Easily confused
stay up late
“I stayed up late watching a movie last night.”
Related words
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In Study
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