phrasal verb
noun Grammar.
a combination of verb and one or more adverbial or prepositional particles, as catch on, take off, bring up, or put up with, functioning as a single semantic unit and often having an idiomatic meaning that could not be predicted from the meanings of the individual parts.
RELATED CONTENT
What Are Irregular Verbs?Verbs (the action words in sentences) are grouped as either regular and irregular, based on whether they follow standard rules of conjugation. Some common irregular verbs include go, have, make, say, take, and know. Regular Verbs To form the past tense of a regular verb, just add -d or -ed to the end of it. For example, learn becomes learned in the past tense. Irregular …
What Is An Action Verb?Action verbs are typically single words that describe what a person or thing in a sentence does (like run, write, yell, and think). So if it answers the question What is the subject doing? it’s the action verb. In the sentence “John paints the garage,” the subject is John. To find the action verb, ask yourself What is John doing? John paints, so the action …
Nearby words
php, phr., phragmites, phragmoplast, phrasal, phrasal verb, phrasally, phrase, phrase book, phrase marker, phrase structure
Origin of phrasal verb
First recorded in 1875–80
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for phrasal verb
phrasal verb
noun
(in English grammar) a phrase that consists of a verb plus an adverbial or prepositional particle, esp one the meaning of which cannot be deduced by analysis of the meaning of the constituents``take in'' meaning ``deceive'' is a phrasal verb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012