List of Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are combinations of verbs with prepositions or adverbs that create new meanings different from the original verb. The table below lists common phrasal verbs along with their meanings and example sentences to help you understand their usage.

Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example
add up (to)	total; make sense	The numbers don’t add up.
back down	withdraw a claim/position	She refused to back down.
back up	support; make a copy	Can you back up my story? / Back up the files.
break away (from)	escape; separate	The horse broke away from the herd.
break down	stop working; analyze	The car broke down. / Let’s break down the costs.
break in	force entry; interrupt	Thieves broke in last night. / Don’t break in while I’m talking.
break into	enter illegally; start doing	She broke into journalism after college.
break out	escape; start suddenly	A fire broke out.
break up	end a relationship; disperse	They broke up. / Police broke up the crowd.
bring about	cause	The policy brought about major change.
bring back	return; reintroduce	Please bring back the book tomorrow.
bring in	introduce; earn	The company brought in new rules.
bring out	publish; emphasize	The light brings out the colors.
bring up	raise (a topic/child)	He brought up a difficult question.
call back	return a call	I’ll call you back this afternoon.
call off	cancel	They called off the meeting.
call on	visit; ask to speak	The teacher called on Mia.
call up	phone; summon	I’ll call up the client now.
carry on	continue	Carry on with your work.
carry out	perform; complete	They carried out the plan.
catch on	become popular; understand	The trend caught on. / He didn’t catch on at first.
catch up (with)	reach the same level; get updates	I need to catch up with my emails.
check in	register (hotel/airport)	We checked in online.
check out	leave; examine	We checked out at noon. / Check out this article.
come across	find by chance; appear	I came across a great cafe.
come along	accompany; progress	Come along with us. / How’s the project coming along?
come back	return	She came back late.
come by	obtain; visit	Good data is hard to come by.
come down with	become ill with	He came down with the flu.
come up	arise; approach	A problem came up.
come up with	invent; propose	She came up with a solution.
count on	rely on	You can count on me.
crack down (on)	enforce strictly	Police cracked down on speeding.
cut back (on)	reduce	We’re cutting back on expenses.
cut off	remove; stop supply; interrupt	The water was cut off.
deal with	handle; be about	We’ll deal with this later.
do away with	abolish; discard	They did away with paper forms.
do without	manage lacking something	We’ll have to do without a printer.
draw up	prepare (a document); pull closer	The lawyer drew up a contract.
dress up	wear formal/costume clothes	We dressed up for the gala.
drop by / in	visit briefly	I’ll drop by after work.
drop off	deliver; decline; fall asleep	I’ll drop off the package. / Sales dropped off.
drop out (of)	withdraw from school/activity	He dropped out of college.
end up	finally reach a state/place	We ended up staying home.
fall apart	break into pieces; fail	The plan fell apart.
fall back on	use as a last resort	We can fall back on savings.
fall for	be deceived; fall in love	He fell for the scam.
fall out (with)	argue; lose hair/teeth	They fell out over money.
figure out	understand; solve	I can’t figure out this bug.
find out	discover	We found out the truth.
get across	communicate clearly	She got her point across.
get along (with)	have a good relationship	Do you get along with your boss?
get around	move; avoid	We got around by bike. / He got around the rule.
get away (with)	escape punishment	She got away with cheating.
get back (to)	return; reply	I’ll get back to you soon.
get by	manage with difficulty	We get by on one income.
get into	become interested in; enter	He got into photography.
get off	leave (transport); avoid punishment	We get off at the next stop.
get on (with)	board; continue	Get on the train. / Get on with your work.
get over	recover from	She got over the breakup.
get rid of	eliminate	We must get rid of clutter.
get together	meet	Let’s get together this weekend.
give away	donate; reveal	They gave away old clothes. / Don’t give away the ending!
give in	yield; submit	He finally gave in.
give up	stop trying; quit	She gave up smoking.
go ahead	proceed	Go ahead and start.
go by	pass (time); follow	The weeks go by quickly. / Go by the rules.
go off	explode; stop working; spoil	The alarm went off. / The milk went off.
go on	continue; happen	Please go on. / What’s going on?
go over	review; exceed	Let’s go over the report.
go through	experience; examine	We went through a rough time.
grow up	become an adult	He grew up in Delhi.
hand in	submit	Hand in your assignment.
hand out	distribute	They handed out flyers.
hang on	wait; hold tightly	Hang on a second.
hang out	spend time relaxing	We hung out at the mall.
hold on	wait; grip	Hold on while I check.
hold up	delay; rob	Traffic held us up. / The bank was held up.
keep on	continue	Keep on trying.
keep up (with)	maintain pace; stay informed	Keep up with the news.
kick off	begin (informal); remove by kicking	The event kicks off at 10.
lay off	dismiss from job	The firm laid off 50 workers.
leave out	omit	Don’t leave out any details.
let down	disappoint	I won’t let you down.
look after	take care of	She looks after her parents.
look ahead	plan for the future	We need to look ahead to Q4.
look back (on)	reflect on the past	She looked back on her career.
look for	seek	I’m looking for my keys.
look forward to	anticipate with pleasure	I look forward to meeting you.
look into	investigate	We’ll look into the issue.
look out	be careful	Look out for cars!
look up	search; improve; visit	Look it up online. / Things are looking up.
make up	invent; reconcile; constitute	She made up an excuse. / They made up.
move in	start living somewhere	They moved in last week.
move out	leave a residence	She moved out in June.
pass away	die (euphemism)	Her grandfather passed away.
pass out	faint; distribute	He passed out from heat. / Pass out the forms.
pay back	repay; retaliate	I’ll pay you back tomorrow.
pick out	choose; select	Pick out a dress.
pick up	lift; collect; learn	I’ll pick you up at 6. / She picked up Spanish.
point out	indicate; highlight	Thanks for pointing that out.
put aside	save; disregard	Put aside some money.
put away	store; imprison	Put away the tools.
put down	place; insult; euthanize	Don’t put him down.
put off	postpone; discourage	They put off the trip.
put on	dress; present; gain (weight)	She put on a coat.
put out	extinguish; inconvenience; publish	Put out the fire. / Sorry to put you out.
put up (with)	tolerate	I can’t put up with the noise.
rely on	depend on	We rely on volunteers.
rule out	eliminate as an option	The doctor ruled out flu.
run into	meet by chance; collide	I ran into an old friend.
run out (of)	have none left	We ran out of time.
set off	start a journey; trigger	We set off at dawn. / The smoke set off the alarm.
set up	arrange; establish; assemble	They set up the lab.
show off	display proudly	He likes to show off his car.
show up	appear; arrive	She never showed up.
shut down	cease operation	The website shut down.
sort out	organize; resolve	We need to sort out the schedule.
speak up	speak louder; express opinion	Please speak up at the back.
stand by	support; be ready	We stand by our decision.
stand for	represent; tolerate (neg.)	BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation.
stand out	be noticeable	Her work stands out.
stick to	adhere; continue	Stick to the plan.
take after	resemble (a relative)	She takes after her mother.
take apart	disassemble	He took the engine apart.
take away	remove; takeaway food	Please take away these plates.
take back	retract; return	I take back what I said.
take off	remove; depart (plane); become popular	The plane took off. / Sales took off.
take on	accept (work); hire; compete against	We can’t take on more clients.
take over	assume control	She took over as CEO.
take up	begin; occupy	He took up painting. / This takes up space.
think over	consider carefully	Think it over before deciding.
throw away	discard	Don’t throw away the receipt.
try on	test clothing	Try on the jacket.
turn down	refuse; lower (volume)	She turned down the offer.
turn in	submit; go to bed	Please turn in your report.
turn into	become; transform	The caterpillar turned into a butterfly.
turn off	deactivate; repel	Turn off the lights. / His rudeness turned me off.
turn on	activate; excite	Turn on the TV.
turn out	result; attend; produce	It turned out fine. / A huge crowd turned out.
turn up	appear; increase (volume)	He turned up late.
use up	consume completely	We used up all the paper.
work out	exercise; solve; succeed	It all worked out. / Work out the answer.
write down	record in writing	Write down your ideas.
write up	create a report	She wrote up the findings.