idiom · informal
burn the midnight oil
UK/bɜːn ðə mɪdˈnaɪt ɔɪl/US/bɜrn ðə mɪdˈnaɪt ɔɪl/BURN·the·MID·night·OIL
work or study late into the night, especially to meet a deadline
Examples
“I had to burn the midnight oil to finish my presentation before the meeting.”
“During exam week she was burning the midnight oil every night.”
“We burned the midnight oil to get the project finished on time.”
Band 8 sentence
“In the final week before the submission deadline I burned the midnight oil, but it was worth it when the assessors praised our methodology.”
Collocations
- burn the midnight oil to finish
- burn the midnight oil before exams
Common mistakes
I burn midnight oil last night.→I burned the midnight oil last night.
I burn the midday oil to finish.→I burned the midnight oil to finish.
Say it for a higher band
5study late→6stay up late working→7+burn the midnight oil
Synonyms
work late
stay up late studying
Easily confused
work around the clock
“The staff worked around the clock to restore power after the storm.”
Related words
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In Work
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