Explanation of Phrasal Verbs with 100 Examples
What is a Phrasal Verb?
A phrasal verb is a verb combined with one or more particles (prepositions or adverbs) that change
the meaning of the original verb.
Types of Phrasal Verbs
1. Transitive – need an object (e.g., She looked after the baby).
2. Intransitive – do not need an object (e.g., The car broke down).
3. Separable – object can separate verb and particle (e.g., Turn off the light = Turn the light off).
4. Inseparable – object cannot separate (e.g., She looks after the children).
1. Break down – stop working (The car broke down.)
2. Bring up – raise a topic (He brought up an interesting point.)
3. Call off – cancel (They called off the meeting.)
4. Carry on – continue (Please carry on with your work.)
5. Come across – find by chance (I came across an old photo.)
6. Come in – enter (She came in quietly.)
7. Come out – be released (The movie comes out next week.)
8. Cut down – reduce (You should cut down on sugar.)
9. Cut off – disconnect (The phone was cut off.)
10. Do away with – eliminate (They did away with old rules.)
11. Do over – repeat (You must do it over.)
12. Dress up – wear formal clothes (She dressed up for the party.)
13. Drop by – visit briefly (I’ll drop by later.)
14. Drop out – quit (He dropped out of school.)
15. Figure out – solve/understand (I can’t figure out this problem.)
16. Fill in – complete (Please fill in the form.)
17. Fill up – make full (She filled up the glass.)
18. Find out – discover (I found out the truth.)
19. Get along – have a good relationship (They get along well.)
20. Get away – escape (The thief got away.)
21. Get back – return (I’ll get back home soon.)
22. Get over – recover (She got over her illness.)
23. Give away – donate/reveal (He gave away his old clothes.)
24. Give up – quit (Never give up.)
25. Go ahead – proceed (You can go ahead with the plan.)
26. Hand in – submit (Hand in your homework.)
27. Hand out – distribute (The teacher handed out the papers.)
28. Hold on – wait (Hold on a minute.)
29. Keep on – continue (Keep on studying.)
30. Keep up – maintain (Keep up the good work!)
31. Look after – take care of (She looks after her brother.)
32. Look down on – despise (He looks down on poor people.)
33. Look for – search (I am looking for my keys.)
34. Look forward to – anticipate (I look forward to the holidays.)
35. Look into – investigate (Police are looking into the case.)
36. Look out – be careful (Look out! A car is coming.)
37. Look up – search for info (Look it up in the dictionary.)
38. Look up to – admire (I look up to my father.)
39. Make up – invent/forgive (She made up a story / They made up after the fight.)
40. Pass away – die (Her grandfather passed away.)
41. Pass out – faint (He passed out from the heat.)
42. Pick out – choose (She picked out a nice dress.)
43. Pick up – collect/learn (I’ll pick you up at 6.)
44. Point out – indicate (He pointed out the mistake.)
45. Put aside – save (She put aside some money.)
46. Put off – postpone (They put off the meeting.)
47. Put on – wear (He put on his coat.)
48. Put out – extinguish (Firefighters put out the fire.)
49. Put up with – tolerate (I can’t put up with the noise.)
50. Run into – meet unexpectedly (I ran into my friend yesterday.)
51. Run out of – exhaust supply (We ran out of milk.)
52. Run over – hit with a vehicle (The car ran over a dog.)
53. Set off – start a journey (We set off early.)
54. Set up – arrange/establish (They set up a company.)
55. Show off – boast (He loves to show off his car.)
56. Shut down – close (The factory shut down.)
57. Sit down – take a seat (Please sit down.)
58. Stand by – support (I’ll stand by you.)
59. Stand for – represent (UN stands for United Nations.)
60. Stand out – be noticeable (She stands out in a crowd.)
61. Take after – resemble (He takes after his mother.)
62. Take away – remove (Take away the dishes.)
63. Take back – withdraw words (I take back what I said.)
64. Take off – remove/plane leaves (The plane took off.)
65. Take on – accept responsibility (He took on extra work.)
66. Take over – assume control (She took over the business.)
67. Take up – begin a hobby (He took up painting.)
68. Throw away – discard (Don’t throw away paper.)
69. Throw up – vomit (The baby threw up.)
70. Try on – test clothes (Try on the jacket.)
71. Turn down – reject (She turned down the offer.)
72. Turn into – change to (Water turns into ice.)
73. Turn off – switch off (Turn off the lights.)
74. Turn on – switch on (Turn on the TV.)
75. Turn up – appear/increase (She turned up late / Turn up the volume.)
76. Wake up – stop sleeping (Wake up early.)
77. Watch out – be careful (Watch out for snakes!)
78. Work out – exercise/solve (She works out daily / I worked out the answer.)
79. Write down – record (Write down the address.)
80. Break into – enter illegally (Thieves broke into the house.)
81. Break out – escape/start suddenly (War broke out.)
82. Bring about – cause (The reforms brought about change.)
83. Call back – return a call (I’ll call you back.)
84. Catch up – reach same level (She caught up with her classmates.)
85. Check in – register (We checked in at the hotel.)
86. Check out – leave hotel / examine (We checked out at noon.)
87. Come up with – invent/think of (He came up with a new idea.)
88. Drop off – deliver (I’ll drop you off at school.)
89. End up – finally reach (She ended up crying.)
90. Fall apart – break into pieces (The chair fell apart.)
91. Fall behind – be late/slow (He fell behind in class.)
92. Fall out – quarrel (They fell out over money.)
93. Get across – communicate (He got his point across.)
94. Go over – review (Let’s go over the plan.)
95. Go through – experience (She went through hard times.)
96. Hang on – wait (Hang on a second.)
97. Hang out – spend time socially (They hang out after school.)
98. Knock out – make unconscious (The boxer knocked him out.)
99. Lay off – dismiss from job (The company laid off workers.)
100. Work on – focus efforts (I’m working on my project.)
