Common English Phrasal Verbs: Meanings and Examples

Look up: Find or search for a particular piece of information, get better, or visit someone you know.

Look up to: Admire or respect someone.

Look after: Take care of someone or something, be responsible for something, or take care of yourself.

Look like: To appear likely to happen or to resemble someone or something.

Look through: Read something quickly, search for something specific among other things, or pretend you don’t know someone you know.

Look at: Move your eyes to see something, think about something carefully, read or examine something, or to exemplify.

Look on: Watch or observe, or to think of someone in a particular way.

Look for: Hope to get something or search for someone or something.

Look out: Use to warn someone of someone or something.


Come across: To meet, find, or discover someone or something by chance, or an idea that is easy to understand.

Come back: To return to a particular place or person, to become or start doing something again, or to remember.

Come down: Get low, accept a lower price, travel from south to a lower part, or to fall to the ground.

Come in: To receive information or money, to enter somewhere, or assume a role or function.

Come off: To fall off something that you’re hiding, remove, clean, wash up, stop being fixed, or achieve an activity.

Come on: To walk onto the stage, to join a team, to improve, used to hurry someone or something, or begin to operate.

Come out: Became known, to be removed, to be spoken in a particular way, or easy to notice.

Come round: To occur again, to visit, to be persuaded, or to revise someone’s opinion.

Come to: To enter your mind, to add up to something, or to reach a particularly bad situation/arrive.

Come up: To move towards someone, to become available, to happen, or to be chosen.

Come down with: To start to suffer from an illness.

Come up with: To think of something or produce or provide something that people want.



Go away: To move or travel from a person or a place, or leave for holidays.

Go into: Start working in a particular job, talk deeply and in detail about something, or start a long explanation.

Go over: To check carefully, to search a place thoroughly, repeat in order to learn something, or clean something quickly.

Go by: Time passing, to base an opinion on something, use a particular name, or stop in a place for a while.

Go off: To explode or be fired, stop working, being no longer fresh, start to sleep, or suddenly become angry.

Go through: Examine carefully, experience something unpleasant, practice something, or perform everyday actions.

Go down: Sink, be remembered as, to produce a particular reaction, swallow, become less respected, or get off a vehicle.

Go on: Continue happening, begin an activity, to continue working, to talk too much, let go, time passing, or taking something after a pause.

Go up: To increase, to be built, be very visible, gradually become more, or go to university.

Go for: Compete for, like a particular kind of person, to choose a particular thing, or to be true.

Go out: Go for enjoyment, travel far away, to protest, or stop being fashionable.

Go with: Be offered with something, have a romantic relationship, or choose or accept something.


Get away: Escape from a person or place, or go for holiday.

Get out: Avoid responsibilities, get pleasure from something, or take off clothes.

Get on: Get into any vehicle, be on TV or radio, or to be successful in life.

Get out of: Avoid something by escaping, get back freedom, or go beyond the top.

Go on with: To continue happening or doing something as before, or to happen.

Go round: Became public, solve something, or handle or manage someone or something.

Get round to: Start something or start to solve something.

Get by: To have just enough money, get by on, to live, or get by with, manage and be good.

Get over: Start to feel unhappy after a bad event, find a way to solve or deal with a problem, or get across.

Get in: Arrive at home/work, or be accepted in a college or university.

Get off: Stop touching someone or something, have holidays, finish and leave work, or to be punished.

Get through: Deal with something, or be connected by phone.

Get up: Organize in a popular way, have an erection, increasing, or dress in a particular way.




Take after: To look or behave like an older relative.

Take off: To remove clothes or to rise in the air.

Take on: Start to employ someone, agree to do something, or agree to do something.

Take out: Start to employ someone, agree to do something, or begin to have a particular quality or appearance.

Take down: To move something or someone to a lower position, or to write down.

Take back: To admit that you were wrong or to take something back.

Take in: To let someone enter and be in your house, to visit a place, or to make a piece of clothing.

Take up: To become interested in a new activity, start a new job, or start to solve a problem.


Put away: Put something in its place, save money, or eat or drink a lot.

Put back: Put people or things in the place or situation, delay a process, or make someone recover something.

Put down: Put something or someone on a surface, stop a process, or pay a part of a total cost.

Put off: To make someone not want to do something or make someone not like someone or something.

Put someone up: To make someone feel nervous or frightened.

Put on: To cover a part of your body with a piece of clothing or jewelry so that you are wearing it.

Put up with: To accept someone or something unpleasant in a patient way.

Put forward: To offer an idea so that people can discuss it and make a decision.

Put out: To make something stop burning.

Put in: To spend a particular amount of time doing something.

Put through: To make someone do or experience something difficult or unpleasant.