Phrasal Verb |
Meaning |
Example Sentence |
stay behind |
To not leave a place after others have left. |
We like to stay behind in the office after five o’clock for a nice chat. |
stay in |
To not go out of one’s house. |
I’m staying in tonight to finish some office work. |
stay on |
To continue to do something or be in a place after others have left. |
She failed her exam and had to stay on at school for another year. |
stay out |
To stay outdoors and not come home or come home late. |
He sometimes stays out late for a drink with colleagues after work |
stay out of |
To not get oneself involved in something. |
I was told to stay out of their arguments and mind my own business. |
stay up |
To not go to bed at the usual time. |
Tonight, we are staying up to watch a football match on television. |
step aside |
To leave one’s office or position. |
There were calls for him to step aside when his health began to fail. |
step down |
To resign from an important job or high position. |
The minister who was involved in a sex scandal was forced to step down. |
step forward |
To offer one’s help or services. |
A third candidate has stepped forward in the leadership contest. |
step in |
To become involved in order to help. |
The leaders had to step in to resolve long-standing disputes between the two factions of the party. |
step out |
To go outside for a short time. |
I need to step out for some fresh air. |
step up |
To increase. |
The police are stepping up surveillance of the building used by a suspected criminal. |
stick around |
To remain somewhere for some time. |
Let’s stick around until he arrives, then we will go for a meal. |
stick at |
To continue doing something in spite of difficulty. |
We decided to stick at it until we completed the 5,000-piece jigsaw. |
stick by |
To honour one’s promise, obligation, etc. |
You must stick by your promise to help us to get this done. |
To continue to support someone. |
The children promised to stick by their single mother through thick and thin. |
|
stick out |
To protrude from something. |
He donned a party hat with a feather sticking out of it. |
To hold something out towards someone. |
She stuck out her tongue as requested by the doctor. |
|
To be easily noticeable. |
With his towering height, he certainly sticks out in a crowd. |
|
To tolerate something until the end |
If we just stick it out, I am sure we will find a way out. |
|
stick to |
To do or use the same thing and not change to something else. |
Stick to the point, otherwise our meeting will never end. |
To honour one’s words. |
Every time you make a promise, you never stick to it. |
|
stick together |
To be mutually loyal. |
They have always stuck together since their immigration here. |
stick up |
To rob someone. |
A stranger tried to stick him up, but he fought him off. |
stick up for |
To support or defend. |
Will you stick up for me? There are too many of them. |
stick with |
To continue with someone or something. |
I have stuck with the same barber for the past seven years. |
stop by |
To make a brief visit to a place. |
Will you be stopping by the supermarket on your way home? |
To make a brief visit to someone. |
Jack stopped by Jill’s with a present to wish her a happy birthday. |
|
stop in |
To visit a place briefly. |
He stopped in at a florist’s on his way to visit her. |
To stay in. |
She decided to stop in to do her laundry. |
|
stop off |
To make a short visit to a place on the way to one’s destination. |
We stopped off in one of the coastal resorts for a day before leaving the country. |
stop over |
To stay for a brief period before continuing one’s journey. |
They stopped over in Moscow for a night on the way to London. |
strike back |
To make an attack in return for an attack made by the opposing side. |
The guerrillas struck back by killing two soldiers for a bomb attack the previous day. |
strike down |
To hit someone hard. |
He struck the man down with a single blow of his iron rod. |
To kill or make someone unable to act in the normal way. |
He was struck down by polio at an early age. |
|
strike off |
To remove from the official record, list, etc. |
He should be struck off the roll of solicitors. |
strike on |
To discover or think of something, especially by chance. |
We struck on the idea of being freelance journalists while chatting in a train. |
strike out |
To draw a line through something in a document to show it is not applicable. |
Her name was struck out as she had withdrawn from the competition. |
To start to do something independently. |
She left the quartet to strike out on her own. |
|
strike up |
To begin a friendship or conversation with someone. |
He finally found the courage to strike up a conversation with her. |
To start to play. |
An expectant crowd gathered as the band was about to strike up. |
|
swarm with |
To be crowded with people. |
On weekends the zoo is swarmed with visitors. |
To be overrun with something. |
The carrion of an unknown animal was swarming with flies. |
|
switch off |
To use a switch to turn off light, television, etc. |
She seldom switches off the computer when she has finished using it. |
switch on |
To use a switch to turn on light, television, etc. |
Some cars have already switched on their lights before it gets dark. |
switch over |
To replace a way of doing something with another. |
They are going to switch over to the new teaching method. |
To change from one television station, etc. to another. |
Why do you keep switching over to another channel? |