Phrasal Verb Dictionary: T

Phrasal verbs are a common English verb form that consist of a verb followed by a p-word that functions as a particle. To learn more about some of the most common phrasal verbs in the English language, click on a letter in the following menu to browse the Phrasal Verb Dictionary in alphabetical order.

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Note: When a word entry includes a p-word enclosed in parentheses, the phrasal verb is a phrasal-prepositional verb.

Phrasal Verb	Definition	Category	Example
tack on	add (usually unplanned)	separable transitive	She tacked the appendix on.
tag along	go with, accompany	intransitive	The little boy tagged along.
tail back	form a long line	separable transitive	An accident tailed traffic back for miles.
tail off	become quieter and then stop	intransitive	Her rant tailed off.
take aback	take by surprise, surprise	separable transitive	His statement took me aback.
take after	resemble	inseparable transitive	My daughter takes after her father.
take apart	disassemble	separable transitive	The child took the toy apart.
take away	remove	separable transitive	The soldiers took the captives away.
take back	return, retract	separable transitive	Can you take the dress back?
take down	write, record	separable transitive	My secretary will take my messages down while I am away.
take down	remove (usually to a lower position)	separable transitive	Please take the box down from the closet shelf.
take in	learn, absorb	separable transitive	Did you take all the information from class in?
take in	deceive	separable transitive	The con artist took her in.
take in	make smaller	separable transitive	Can you take my skirt in a bit?
take off	leave the ground	intransitive	The rocket takes off a noon tomorrow.
take off	remove	separable transitive	My daughter can take her own dress off now.
take off	leave for a period of time	separable transitive	I took only six days off last year.
take off	leave	intransitive	The rude guest took off before dessert.
take on	accept	separable transitive	She took too much responsibility on.
take out	take on a date	separable transitive	My husband took me out last night.
take over	assume responsibility	separable transitive	My brother took the company over.
take up	begin, start	separable transitive	I want to take up a new hobby.
take up	discuss at a later date	separable transitive	You should take the issue up at the next meeting.
take up	shorten	separable transitive	Can you take my dress up few inches.
take up	occupy space	separable transitive	The mixer takes too much space up on the counter.
take up with	become friendly with	inseparable transitive	My daughter has taken up with your son after school.
talk back (to)	argue, retort	intransitive	Some children talk back to the teacher.
talk down to	patronize, speak condescendingly	inseparable transitive	He talks down to women.
talk out	discuss	separable transitive	We can talk the issue out.
talk over	discuss	separable transitive	Can we talk the problem over tomorrow morning?
tamp down	press, flatten	separable transitive	She tamped the dirt in her garden down.
tap into	start using	inseparable transitive	He finally tapped into his college fund.
tape up	fasten with tape	separable transitive	She taped the box up.
taper down	minimize gradually, become less gradually	separable transitive	He tapered his duties at work down.
taper off	minimize gradually, become less gradually	intransitive	Spending has tapered off.
team up	form a group or team	separable transitive	The teacher teamed us up.
tear apart	rip into small pieces, destroy	separable transitive	The child tore the magazine apart.
tear down	destroy, raze, demolish	separable transitive	The city tore the old building down.
tear into	criticize	inseparable transitive	My boss tore into me.
tear off	remove a piece	separable transitive	I tore the mattress tag off.
tear up	rip into small pieces, destroy	separable transitive	His puppy tore the sofa up.
tease out	try to understand, make clear	separable transitive	The teacher teased the meaning of the essay out.
tee off	start playing golf	intransitive	The golfers teed off at nine.
tee off	annoy	separable transitive	Waiting in line tees me off.
teem down	rain heavily	intransitive	Rain teemed down all day.
teem with	contain a large amount	inseparable transitive	The plaza is teeming with teenage girls.
tell off	criticize	separable transitive	The cop told the teenagers off for speeding.
tell on	report	inseparable transitive	My older brother told on me again.
tense up	become tense	separable transitive	The dog tensed its jaw up.
test out	assess, check, experiment	separable transitive	She tested the new procedure out.
thaw out	make warmer, become warmer	separable transitive	I thawed the Thanksgiving turkey out.
thin down	make less thick	separable transitive	The cook thinned the soup down.
thin out	make less numerous, make fewer, remove some	separable transitive	The gardener thinned the seedlings out.
think back (on)	recall	intransitive	Let me think back on the night in question.
think over	consider	separable transitive	Let me think the suggestion over.
think through	consider carefully	separable transitive	She thought the proposal through last night.
think up	create	separable transitive	The child thought an imaginative story up.
throttle back	reduce	separable transitive	You should throttle your efforts back.
throw away	discard, dispose of	separable transitive	Throw the ripped shirt away.
throw down	fight	intransitive	The two mean girls threw down after school.
throw off	mess up, interfere	separable transitive	My headache threw my concentration off.
throw out	discard, dispose of	separable transitive	Throw the broken toy out.
throw out	remove my force	separable transitive	The bouncer threw him out.
throw out	injure	separable transitive	My husband threw his back out.
throw together	arrange or create (usually at last minute)	separable transitive	I threw a small party together.
throw up	vomit	separable transitive	The child threw the spoiled milk up.
tick off	anger, annoy	separable transitive	Rude patrons tick me off.
tick off	list quickly	separable transitive	The manager ticked my new duties off.
tidy up	clean, organize	separable transitive	She tidied her room up.
tie down	fasten	separable transitive	He tied the picnic table down.
tie in	relate	separable transitive	Can you tie chapter two in better?
tie up	fasten securely	separable transitive	Tie the boat up before the storm.
tighten up	make more secure	separable transitive	She tightened her introduction up.
tip off	warn	separable transitive	The informant tipped the police off.
tip over	cause to fall to the side	separable transitive	The child tipped the vase over.
tire out	exhaust	separable transitive	Playing all day tired the child out.
toddle off	leave	intransitive	She toddled off in the middle of the conversation.
tone down	minimize, dilute, moderate, soften	separable transitive	Tone your angry email to your boss down.
tone up	make firmer or stronger (usually with exercise)	separable transitive	Tone your stomach up with crunches.
top off	complete	separable transitive	Top my milkshake off with a cherry.
topple over	cause to fall	separable transitive	The wind toppled the oak tree over.
toss down	drink, consume	separable transitive	He tossed another beer down.
toss off	write or do quickly	separable transitive	She tossed the essay off.
toss up	vomit	separable transitive	The puppy tossed the cookie up.
total up	sum, summarize	separable transitive	He totaled the numbers up.
total up to	equal	inseparable transitive	The charges total up to more than I can afford.
touch on	discuss briefly, mention	inseparable transitive	The lecture touched on the Middle East.
touch up	make final improvements	separable transitive	The painted touched the trim up.
toughen up	make stronger, become stronger	separable transitive	Daily exercise will toughen you up.
tower over	be more successful	inseparable transitive	Her accomplishments tower over mine.
toy with	consider	inseparable transitive	I am toying with the idea.
toy with	mess with, tease	inseparable transitive	Stop toying with my emotions.
track down	find after searching	separable transitive	Her old boyfriend tracked her down.
trail away	fade	intransitive	Her fame and fortune trailed away.
trick out	decorate	separable transitive	He tricked his house out for the holidays.
trip up	make a mistake, cause to make a mistake	separable transitive	The first question on the exam tripped me up.
try on	briefly put on clothing, test	separable transitive	She tried the bra on in the store.
try out	test	separable transitive	He tried the new recipe out.
tuck in	push inside	separable transitive	She tucked her blouse in.
tuck into	start eating	inseparable transitive	The children tucked into the meal.
tucker out	exhaust, make tired	separable transitive	Hiking all day tuckered the adventurers out.
tune up	warm up, make better	separable transitive	The conductor tuned the band up.
turn around	reverse direction	separable transitive	The driver turned the bus around.
turn away	refuse service or entrance	separable transitive	The bouncer turned the drunk men away.
turn down	refuse	separable transitive	The woman turned the man down for a date.
turn down	lower the volume	separable transitive	Please turn the radio down.
turn down	pull back the covers of a bed	separable transitive	Room service can turn the bed down.
turn in	submit	separable transitive	You must turn your essay in today.
turn in	go to bed	intransitive	I plan to turn in before midnight.
turn into	transform	inseparable transitive	The frog turned into a prince.
turn off	stop	separable transitive	He turned the television off.
turn on	start	separable transitive	She turned the television on.
turn on	attack unexpectedly	inseparable transitive	The students turned on the teacher.
turn on	cause sexual arousal or excitement	separable transitive	Feet turn some men on.
turn out	produce	separable transitive	The company turns out twenty doodads an hour.
turn out	extinguish	separable transitive	Please turn the light out when you leave.
turn out	arrive, show up	intransitive	Thousands of people turned out for the protest.
turn out	end up, transpire, result	intransitive	The man turned out to be the murderer.
turn over	give (usually to the authorities)	separable transitive	The witness turned the recording over to the police.
turn up	increase in volume	separable transitive	Can you turn the radio up?
turn up	appear unexpectedly	intransitive	My long lost uncle turned up last night.
type out	produce in print	separable transitive	He typed his essay out.
type up	produce in print	separable transitive	She typed the email up.