Important Phrasal Verbs

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 td>	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?