Phrasal verbs |
| brighten up |
start to have more colour or light, give something more colour or light |
You could brighten up that skirt with a
red blouse. |
| brighten up |
start looking or feeling happier |
Sarah brightened up considerably as she thought of Emily's words. |
| brighten up |
if the weather brightens up, it becomes sunnier |
It's brightening up, at last. |
| brush up (on) |
practise and improve your skills or knowledge of something |
I took a class to brush up /on) my German before
the trip. |
| check out |
examine someone or something in order to be certain that everything is correct, true or satisfactory |
I've been taking loads of photographs, just to check out the camera. |
| check out |
if information checks out, you feel that it is true after examining it |
Their story just didn't check out. |
| liven up |
make something more interesting or exciting, or become more interesting or exciting |
What we needed was
some music to liven things up. |
| liven up |
give something a more interesting appearance, taste or other quality |
You can liven up a plain shirt with a
colourful scarf. |
| make over |
change or improve the appearance of someone or something makeover (n) |
They made over three contestants on the show. When they'd finished, they looked completely different. |
| mess up |
make a mistake or do something badly |
She says she
completely messed up the interview. |
| mess up |
make something dirty or untidy |
The wind had messed her hair up. |
| mess up |
be the cause of someone's physical, emotional or mental problems |
Drugs really messed her up. |
| paper over |
hide a problem or disagreement rather than finding a satisfactory solution to it |
Fundamental problems were papered over, not resolved. |
| patch up |
repair something, often quickly and not very well |
The road needs resurfacing, not just patching up. |
| patch up |
become friends with someone again after a disagreement |
The meeting was intended to patch up relations between the two sides. |
| patch up |
give basic medical treatment to someone who is injured |
The nurses managed to patch her up temporarily. |
| pick up |
improve |
They won't let him out of hospital until his health has picked up quite a lot. |
| run down |
if an organisation or area is run down, its size, importance and activity is reduced run-down (adj) |
They've been running the factory down for the last five years. |
| scrape through |
succeed in doing something, but not in a very impressive way |
He just managed to scrape through the entrance exam. |
| smarten up |
improve the appearance of something, for example by cleaning or painting it |
This room needs smartening up. |
| smarten up |
if you smarten up or smarten yourself up, you make yourself look tidy and clean |
I'm going to smarten myself up a bit before the meeting. |
| stand out |
be much more impressive or important than others |
Germany stands out as the leader in environmental reporting. |
| stand out |
be easy to see or notice because of being different outstanding (adj) |
His turquoise tie stood out against his black suit. |
| touch up |
make a surface look better with small improvements |
Touch up the paintwork before you try and sell the house. |
| waste away |
gradually become thinner and weaker over a period of time, usually because of an illness |
He hadn't eaten properly for weeks and was starting to waste away. |
| write off |
damage a vehicle so badly that it is not worth repairing |
My uncle wrote his car off in an accident last weekend. |
| write off |
decide that someone or something will not succeed and stop giving them your attention and energy write-off (n) |
He felt hopeless; his teachers had written him off. |
