🗣️ 15 Phrasal Verbs in English Inspired by Cooking and Animals (For Use in Real Life)
Phrasal verbs in English, what is it really? verbs followed by prepositions or adverbs - which are widely used for speaking by native speakers. Mastering them is essential if you want to fluent English, understand natural conversations and feel more comfortable speaking.
Some of these phrasal verbs are inspired by very concrete elements, such as food, animals or kitchen utensils. As a result, they are more visualstherefore easy to rememberand above all very practical to use in real-life contexts.
Discover now 15 phrasal verbs in English from everyday vocabulary - with their own actual meaning (excluding kitchen) and examples in context to master them faster.
Beef up
Strengthen, intensify an action or safety
➡ The security has been beefed up due to the President's arrival.
Boil over
Emotional overflow, degeneration, explosion
➡ Their relationship boiled over after he cheated on her again. Consequently they broke up.
Boil down to
Boil it down to the essentials, come back to a key point
➡ Her decision to stay with him boiled down to a deep lack of trust.
Chew over
Think long and hard, weigh the pros and cons
➡ This new job comes with a lot of sacrifices; I need to chew it over before deciding.
Chew out
Scolding, severe scolding
➡ Her mom chewed her out when she came home late.
Chicken out
Getting cold feet, giving up out of fear
➡ He was supposed to present but he chickened out at the last minute.
Clam up
Suddenly shutting down (often due to stress)
➡ She clammed up when the CEO started questioning her.
Chop up
Divide, cut up, reduce something into pieces
➡ The teacher chopped up my essay and removed the strongest parts.
Cool down / Cool off
Calming down after anger or conflict
➡ He went for a walk to cool off after the argument.
Cut up
- Harsh criticismputting someone down
➡ Ignore those who cut up your work-just keep going. - Making people laugh by acting funny
➡ The comedian cut up the crowd with his jokes.
Duck down
Quickly bend down to avoid an obstacle
➡ My uncle has to duck down to enter my room because he's very tall.
Duck out
Leaving discreetly, slipping away unnoticed
➡ I ducked out of the meeting to grab a coffee.
Fish out / Fish through
Digging for something
➡ I fished out my car keys from my bag.
➡ Good students fish through books for useful information.
Milk for
Profiting excessively, exploiting
➡ Scammers try to milk their victims for all their money.
➡ I'll milk this job for every opportunity it offers.
Pan out
Go well, succeed as planned
➡ Luckily, our plan panned out perfectly.
Swallow up
Believe or accept without questioning
➡ I can't believe she swallowed up all his lies.
Veg out
Relax completely, do nothing
➡ After work, I usually veg out in front of the TV.
Why learn these phrasal verbs?
They are part of the standard English vocabulary used every day by natives.
They allow you to speak English more naturally.
They facilitate English oral comprehensionespecially in movies, TV shows and informal discussions.
They boost your confidence in speaking by helping you express yourself more quickly.
Learning tip
Learn these phrasal verbs by theme or mental imageas here with the foodthe animals and the kitchen. It helps you memorize them permanently.
Don't expect to "master everything". Start using them right away in your own sentences !
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