| Phrasal Verb | Meaning |
Example |
| ask someone out | invite on a date | Why don't you ask Carla out to dinner? |
| ask around | ask different people | I asked around but nobody is helping. |
| add up to something | to combine | Your savings will add up over time. |
| back something up | reverse | Back up your truck so I park. |
| back someone up | support | We will back you up financially. |
| blow up | explode | They blew up the tanks. |
| blow something up | add air | Blow up the balloons. |
| break up | to separate | Katie broke up with her boyfriend. |
| break down | stop functioning | My car broke down in the middle of the road. |
| break something down | divide into smaller parts | Break it down so we can understand better. |
| break in | Entering by force | The thief must have broken in from the back door. |
| break into something | enter by force | Someone broke into my car yesterday night. |
| break out | escape | Michael broke out of Fox River penitentiary. |
| bring someone down | make unhappy | Don't let your relationship bring you down. |
| bring up | to raise | Jessica was brought up by her grandparents. |
| bring something up | start talking about a subject | You shouldn't bring up this subject when you are in public. |
| call around | phone different people | I was calling around all morning to book our flights. |
| call someone back | return a phone call | I will call you back when I finish my homework. |
| call something off | cancel | It's false alarm, you can call it off. |
| call someone up | phone | Call me up when you are in town. |
| calm down | to relax | You can't think right, you need to calm down. |
| catch up | get to the same point | You two start running, I will catch up to you. |
| check in | arrive and register |
Let's check in first and then we can go to the rooms. |
| check out | leave a hotel | Wait for me, I need to check out and return the keys. |
| check someone/something out | look at carefully, to investigate | They are checking us out before hiring. |
| check out | look at | Check out that girl with blue shirt. |
| cheer one up | make happier | Don't worry, I know how to cheer her up. |
| chip in | help | Everybody chipped in to gather that much money. |
| clean up | to clean, tidy |
Clean up your bedroom tonight. |
| come across | find unexpectedly | I came across these old photos when I was cleaning up my room. |
| come apart | separate | The sides of the box come apart. |
| come forward | to volunteer | I will award whomever comes forward for this job. |
| come up with | think of |
Russell came up with a brilliant idea. |
| count on | rely on | I can count on this phrasal verbs list for tomorrow's grammar quiz. |
| cross something out | draw a line through | Please cross those numbers out, they are invalid. |
| cut down | make something fall to the ground | They cut down all the trees. |
| cut in | interrupt | I couldn't have a nice conversation with him because his friend kept on cutting in. |
| cut off | remove with something sharp | They will cut off the stitches next week. |
| cut off | stop providing |
Are you saying that you couldn't do the homework because the electricity was cut off? |
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