44 Common English Phrasal Verbs with meanings and examples

44 Common English Phrasal Verbs with meanings and examples

Phrasal verbs are defined as a phrase (such as take-off or look down on) that combines a verb with a preposition or adverb or both and that functions as a verb whose meaning is different from the combined meanings of the individual words.

Phrasal verbs are extremely common in spoken English. You may observe that a lot of native English speakers use them frequently in their conversations. More so, using phrasal verbs makes one sound proficient in English.

Thus, most online spoken English classes will encourage to use these as frequently as possible to refine your English communication skills, in some cases students are even encouraged to rote memorize them.

At Speechify, we insist that students first understand the different types of phrasal verbs, understand their usage and meanings. Our online English tutors will then practice spoken English in conversational style online lessons.

There are at least three types of phrasal verb constructions depending on whether the verb combines with a preposition, a particle, or both.

  • 1) Verb + preposition (prepositional verbs)

Example- Who is looking after the kids? – after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase after the kids.

  • 2) Verb + particle (particle verbs)

Example- Why does he always dress down? – down is a particle, not a preposition.

  • 3) Verb + particle + preposition (particle-prepositional verbs)

Example- She is looking forward to a rest. – forward is a particle and to is a preposition.

As a leading online English speaking course, in our experience, we find students benefit from first learning basics and then apply those in sentence constructions. It does require a bit of practice but students do benefit from them in the long run.

Today, we have included 44 most common English phrases with their meanings and examples.

Common English phrases that you can use daily

Phrasal Verbs
Meaning
Example
Break Down
Not functioning
My car broke down in the middle of the road.
My computer broke down last night.
Bring up
Talk about
She always brings up the matter.
We need to bring up
Back down
Withdraw a position
He would never back down from his post. He worked really hard for same.
Beat up
Hitting
The thief beat up the man.
Teachers are not allowed to beat up children in school.
Blow up
Explode
Burglars tried to blow up the station.
The fire stations blow up by negligence of the staff.
Bump into
Meet by chance
I bump into my friend suddenly at the party.
Sometimes we bump into some old friends.
Call off
Cancel
We call off the party due to heavy rain.
The manager calls off the meeting due to some urgency.
Come across
Find by chance
I could find my old diary while cleaning the attic.
You can keep trying for your favourite book; you may come across it hopefully.
Clean out
Clean
I need to clean out my wardrobe. It is very messy.
I like people who clean out their chores on a daily basis.
Carry on
Continue
You can carry on with your program for the weekend, I am a bit busy.
We can carry on talking after finishing our dinner.
Drop out
Leave school
Some kids drop out of school due to financial crisis.
There are many dropouts who have made good career later on.
Drop by
Visit
I am going to drop by my old friend’s house this weekend.
I can drop by sometimes but now possible every day.
Find out
Discovered
I found out that they were not coming to the party, much later.
We can find out our best cake if we visit few bakeries this weekend.
Get out
Leave
You need to get out to find the weather’s condition.
The teacher asked me to get out as I did not submit my homework.
Give away
Give something for free
We can give away our old clothes to poor kids on the streets.
You can give away your hard earn money to anyone just like that.
End up
The end result
I end up selling my car to him as he gave me the best deal.
I end up finding my old dress as I kept looking for it all the places at home.
Get by
Survive
I can get by some fruits as well as I am very hungry.
We should learn to get by tough circumstances as well.
Get over
Get well
One needs to get over failures.
You must take some rest to get over with flu.
Get along
Being good friends
I do not get along well with a few of my classmates.
We are trying to get along with my new neighbour.
Get away
Escape
The murderer cannot get away easily.
You cannot get away from the reality of your life.
Get rid of
Eliminate
You need to get rid of pimples on your face by applying some lotion.
We can get rid of extra kilos from your body by working out early in the morning.
Go over
Review
You can go over the report. It is complete.
After going over, I could realize that we need to make some changes to the project.
Grow up
Get older
When you grow up then you can party whole night.
When kids grow up then they will understand the problems of adults.
Give up
Stop trying
Do not give up on your health regime. You can keep trying to be successful.
After many rejections, he gave up the option of changing his job.
Go out
Have a date
Would you like to go out with me?
Let’s go out and enjoy the pleasant weather.
Hang out
Spend time
You can hang out with your friends after finishing office chores.
We usually hang out after college gets over.
Hurry up
Do something fast
Hurry up! we will miss the picture!
You cannot hurry up in important decisions of life.
Made up
Cooked a story
She was telling an untruth, and she made up the story to impress us.
Children normally madeup stories about fairies and magic.
Mess up
To spoil, destroy
Children sometimes mess up their room after playing with friends.
My husband made a cake today afternoon, and he messed up the kitchen.
Show up
Arrive
My best friend of school time will show up at the party today.
There are many clouds today. Rain will show up anytime.
Pass out
Lose consciousness
She passed out due to strict fasting.
Do not drink so much that you pass out.
Piss off
To be upset
Road rage can piss off anyone.
We get pissed off when we see people misbehaving.
Put off
Postpone
We put off the wedding functions due to a shortage of venues in the wedding season.
You can put off the party till you feel better.
Put up with
Let happen
A mother will not put up with any with her children.
We must put up with a grand function of graduation day.
Put on
Get dressed
We need to put on the best dress for today’s party.
Please put on some woollen clothes to avoid the winter’s chill.
Run into
Reunion, colloid
I ran into my teacher, whom I admired the most.
In school reunions, we run into classmates.
Run out
Out of supply
We need to make sure grocery is full, and we do not run out of it any moment.
We sometimes run out of indoor gaming options.
Take off
Remove the cloths
My kids took off school dress immediately after coming home.
You should take off wet clothes after getting drenched in the rain.
Turn Down
Reduce volume
Turned down the volume of the TV.
We need to turn down the music as neighbours are complaining.
Turn down
Say no to the proposal
He turned down our proposal tonight.
He turned down the new job due to the night shift.
Work out
Exercise
I work out every daily in morning.
Working out helps us in keeping our body fit and healthy.
Watch out
Careful
Children need to watch out while playing in the open area.
While going out in the rainy season, we need to watch out for our steps.
Work out
To find a solution
We need to work out the problem.
We need to find the solution to children’s problems.
Wake up
Get up after sleep
I usually wake up at 7 am.
Waking up early in the morning is good for health.

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