Learn the 50+ important phrasal verbs that we use in our everyday conversation. In this lesson, I am going to share with you some very essential and helpful phrasal verbs along with their meanings and use in sentences. Learn the entire lesson and enhance your conversation and speaking skills. All are given below; let’s learn together…
Important Phrasal Verbs Meanings
1. Cut off—have the supply disconnected
Use in sentence: The gas company cut off our supply after we missed a payment.
2. Get away with something—go unpunished
Use in sentence: He got away with lying to his boss.
3. Go after—chase
Use in sentence: The dog went after the cat.
4. Let in—to give access to somebody
Use in sentence: She let her friends in through the side door.
5. Let out—release
Use in sentence: They let the bird out of its cage.
6. To sleep on it—leave a decision until the next day
Use in sentence: I’ll sleep on it and decide tomorrow.
7. Go off—sound an alarm
Use in sentence: The alarm went off at 7 a.m.
8. Get up—leave the bed and become active
Use in sentence: I get up at six every day.
9. Lie in—to stay in bed
Use in sentence: I like to lie in on Sundays.
10. Throw away/out—dispose of
Use in sentence: She threw away the old magazines.
11. Keep on doing something—continue an action
Use in sentence: He kept on working despite the noise.
12. To shut somebody up—to stop them talking or complaining
Use in sentence: She told him to shut up during the movie.
13. Lock in—to keep in, imprison or trap
Use in sentence: They locked the cat in the house for the night.
14. To beat somebody to something—to do it before them or get somewhere before them
Use in sentence: She beat him to the top of the hill.
15. To turn up—to appear unexpectedly
Use in sentence: He turned up at the party without an invitation.
16. To show somebody up—to make them look stupid in front of others
Use in sentence: He showed her up in front of everyone.
17. Drop in, drop by—to visit without an appointment
Use in sentence: I might drop by this afternoon.
18. Come up with—create an idea or plan
Use in sentence: He came up with a great idea.
19. Find out—investigate, discover
Use in sentence: She found out who sent the gift.
20. Cut through—reduce, take a short cut
Use in sentence: We cut through the park to save time.
Important Phrasal Verbs with Meanings
List of Phrasal Verbs in English
21. Finish up / start off—end / begin
Use in sentence: We’ll start off with introductions.
22. To knock out sb, to be knocked out / come to—become unconscious/conscious
Use in sentence: He was knocked out by the blow but came to quickly.
23. Scare off—to frighten
Use in sentence: The noise scared off the birds.
24. Run away—leave hurriedly, escape
Use in sentence: He ran away from home when he was young.
25. Taken aback—be very surprised
Use in sentence: She was taken aback by the news.
26. Clean up—to clean, remove dirt, attend to a wound
Use in sentence: They cleaned up after the party.
27. To shoot back—to move backwards quickly
Use in sentence: He shot back to avoid the ball.
28. To shoot forward—to move forward quickly
Use in sentence: The car shot forward when the light turned green.
29. Look after—to take care of something or somebody
Use in sentence: She looks after her little brother.
30. Show up—to make an appearance—sometimes unexpectedly
Use in sentence: He showed up to the event late.
31. Screw up—to make a big mistake
Use in sentence: I screwed up the recipe.
32. Look away—to avert your eyes and avoid looking at something or someone
Use in sentence: She looked away when he spilled his drink.
33. Make up for something; make up to somebody—to compensate
Use in sentence: He made up for being late by buying her dinner.
34. Go off—sound an alarm
Use in sentence: The alarm clock went off early.
35. Fall for something—to be deceived
Use in sentence: She fell for his story and believed him.
36. Tell off—to reprimand
Use in sentence: His mom told him off for being rude.
37. Made up (with) something—to be pleased about something
Use in sentence: She was made up with her new job.
38. Set back—something that puts in you in a worse situation
Use in sentence: The rain set back their plans.
39. Pull yourself together—to regain composure
Use in sentence: She pulled herself together after the bad news.
40. Look into—research, investigate, gather information
Use in sentence: They’ll look into the issue tomorrow.
Phrasal Verbs in English
Phrasal Verbs with Examples
41. Hang back—to wait behind a little, in time and or distance
Use in sentence: He hung back while his friends went ahead.
42. Hang around, hang about—wait, often for some time and being bored
Use in sentence: We just hung around waiting for the bus.
43. Mixed up—confused
Use in sentence: He was mixed up about the instructions.
44. To be called in—to be asked or told to attend a meeting
Use in sentence: She was called in for a meeting.
45. Dress down—chastise
Use in sentence: He was dressed down by his manager.
46. Make something up—invent, lie
Use in sentence: He made up a story to avoid trouble.
47. To pay for something—to be punished
Use in sentence: He paid for his mistakes.
48. To be fed up (with something or somebody)—to be weary and unhappy, at the end of your tolerance
Use in sentence: She was fed up with the noise outside.
49. To sum up—to summarize, to describe somebody or something
Use in sentence: To sum up, it was a great trip.
50. Paired up—to be put with someone to work as a pair
Use in sentence: They were paired up for the project.
51. Work out—solve, deduce, understand
Use in sentence: I finally worked out the answer.
52. Go round/around—to move around an area
Use in sentence: They went around the neighborhood.
53. Run off with—to leave with somebody, to elope
Use in sentence: She ran off with her boyfriend.
54. Come onto sb—to make sexual advances towards somebody
Use in sentence: He came onto her at the party.
55. Chicken out—to be too scared to do something
Use in sentence: He chickened out at the last minute.
56. Bump into sb—meet casually and unexpectedly
Use in sentence: I bumped into an old friend yesterday.
57. Build up—accumulate, increase
Use in sentence: The traffic built up during rush hour.
58. Dob sb in—to incriminate sb or get them into trouble
Use in sentence: He dobbed his friend in to the teacher.
59. Fall out with sb—to not be friends anymore
Use in sentence: She fell out with her best friend.
60. Colour up—to become red in the face, to blush
Use in sentence: He colored up when everyone looked at him.
61. Let go (of something)—leave behind, abandon, give up a thought or intention
Use in sentence: She let go of her old regrets.
62. Check sb or sg out—to investigate, view, and explore
Use in sentence: I’ll check out the new restaurant this weekend.
Phrasal Verbs Meanings and Use in Sentences
That was our today’s lesson, where we learned 62 phrasal verbs in English along with their meanings and use in sentences. We can use these phrasal verbs in our everyday conversation to leave a good impression. These phrasal verbs empower your conversation and speaking skills when you communicate with your friends, colleagues, or strangers.
Learning and memorizing phrasal verbs is a good step to improve conversation and communication skills in English. I hope this lesson is found helpful for you. We attached a PDF book of these phrasal verbs below. You can download it with one click. Just click on the below-underlined text and get a free PDF book:
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