Most Useful Phrasal Verbs in English

Phrasal Verbs! A phrasal verb is a name given to an English verb which is composed of two or three words.

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs: Environment

1. wipe out – destroy something completely

Whole villages were wiped out by the floods.

2. break down – decompose, when something slowly reduces to its smallest parts

Plastics do not break down quickly. It takes hundreds of years for a plastic bottle to decompose.

3. scale back – reduce the amount or size of something

The country has scaled back its use of fossil fuels and has started investing in renewable energy.

4. use up – finish a supply of something

I worry that we will use up the world’s non-renewable resources.

5. freeze over – become frozen

The lake has frozen over.

6. chop down – make a tree fall down by cutting it with a sharp tool

Large areas of rainforest are being chopped down every day.

 

Phrasal Verbs: Health

1. break out – start suddenly

I’ve broken out in a rash.

2. fight off – free yourself from an illness

Elaine’s fighting off a cold.

3. come to – become conscious

Has he come to yet?

4. get over – recover from something

It’s taken me ages to get over the flu.

5. come down with – become sick

I think I’m coming down with a cold.

6. throw up – be sick, vomit

Georgia was bent over the basin, throwing up.

 

Phrasal Verbs for Business

1. Branch out – Expand or extend one’s interests

The supermarkets have branched out into banking.

2. Break into – Enter (with effort or force)

It’s always been his ambition to break into broadcasting.

3. Carry on – Continue

He moved to New York to carry on his work

4. Back up – Make a copy of information

It’s a good idea to back up your files onto a memory stick.

5. Carry out – Do and complete a task

The building work was carried out by a local contractor.

6. Find out – Discover a fact or piece of information

Can you find out what our customers think of their local bus service?

7. Call off – Cancel something

With the weather worsening, they have called off their field trip.

8. Drop in – Make a short visit somewhere

I will drop in tomorrow morning.

9. Fill out – Complete (a form)

It took me several hours to fill out the application form.

10. Bail out – To rescue somebody from a difficult situation, especially financial problems

Some local businesses have offered to bail out the museum.

Phrasal Verbs about Food and Cooking

1. Bake off – Finish baking partly baked food

She baked off the cakes in the oven.

2. Boil away – Cause liquid to evaporate completely by boiling

The soup’s almost boiled away.

3. Boil over – Cause liquid to rise and flow over the side of the container

The milk was boiling over on the stove behind her.

4. Bolt down – Eat a large amount of food very quickly

She bolted down her lunch and rushed back to work.

5. Cut up – Cut something into small pieces

He cut the pie up into little pieces.

6. Eat out – Eat in a restaurant instead of at home

Do you feel like eating out tonight?

7. Slice off – Cut something from a larger piece

She sliced off a piece of sausage.

8. Whip up – Quickly make a meal or something to eat

She whipped up a delicious lunch for us in 15 minutes.

Travel Phrasal Verbs

1. Check out – Leave the hotel after paying

We checked out at noon.

2. Set off – Start a journey

We set off for Paris just after ten.

3. Get in – Arrive (train, plane)

The train got in late.

4. Take off – When a plane departs or leaves the ground

The plane took off an hour late.

5. Check in – Arrive and register at a hotel or airport

Please check in at least an hour before departure.

6. Get off – Leave a bus, train, plane

We get off at the next station.