Phrasal verbs are verb phrases that have idiomatic meaningsthat is, their meaning is not obvious from the individual words that make up the phrase. Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English (Elt). The situation is different with transitive verbs, however. Phrasal verbs synonyms, Phrasal verbs pronunciation, Phrasal verbs translation, English dictionary definition of Phrasal verbs. The verb and adverb elements which make up intransitive phrasal verbs are never separated: They pulled the house down and redeveloped the site. When the door is opened, it sets off an alarm. The police were called to break up the fight. The report spelled out the need for more staff.įor instance, in the first example, the phrasal verb ‘to look down on someone’ doesn’t mean that you are looking down from a higher place at someone who is below you it means that you think that you are better than someone. For example:įighting broke out among a group of 40 men.ĭon’t put me off, I’m trying to concentrate. Typically, their meaning is not obvious from the meanings of the individual words themselves. Read Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English book reviews & author details and more at Amazon.in.
A phrasal verb is a verb that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or a preposition, or both.