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.
| wade in | start, enter | intransitive | She waded in at the beginning of the semester. |
| wade into | start, enter | inseparable transitive | He waded into the controversy by accident. |
| wade through | spend time doing (usually something difficult) | inseparable transitive | The teacher waded through the pile of essays. |
| wait on | serve, provide service to | inseparable transitive | A new waitress waited on us today. |
| wait up | stay up, not sleep | intransitive | My mom waited up for me. |
| wake up | awaken | separable transitive | The loud noise woke the baby up. |
| wall up | partition off, put up a barrier | separable transitive | The contractor walled the room off. |
| waltz in | enter casually | intransitive | She waltzed in to the meeting late. |
| wander off | leave without permission | intransitive | Small children often wander off. |
| ward off | prevent, deflect | separable transitive | Eating a healthy diet wards many diseases off. |
| warm over | discuss repeatedly to the point of annoyance | separable transitive | Politicians too often warm old politics over. |
| warm to | become more enthusiastic about | inseparable transitive | He warmed to the idea. |
| warm up | increase the temperature | separable transitive | Hot cider always warms me up during the winter. |
| warm up | prepare | separable transitive | You should warm your body up before exercising vigorously. |
| warm up to | start to like | inseparable transitive | He warmed up to the idea. |
| wash away | remove | separable transitive | A glass of wine washed her sorrows away. |
| wash out | clean the inside | separable transitive | She washed the sink out. |
| wash up | clean (usually with water) | separable transitive | Can you wash the dishes up? |
| waste away | wither | intransitive | The old movie star wasted away. |
| watch out (for) | be careful | intransitive | The guard watched out for enemy spies. |
| watch over | protect, care for | inseparable transitive | The shepherd watches over the sheep. |
| water down | weaken, make thinner | separable transitive | The bartender watered the drinks down. |
| wave down | signal to | separable transitive | She waved a police officer down. |
| wave on | signal to leave | separable transitive | The traffic cop waved me on. |
| wean off | gradually stop | separable transitive | The toddler weaned off the bottle. |
| wear down | become thinner or smoother, become tired | separable transitive | Waves wore the rocks down. |
| wear in | break in, become more comfortable | separable transitive | Wear your boots in before hiking all day. |
| wear off | weaken, lessen, fade, diminish | intransitive | The medication wears off after two hours. |
| wear out | use until no longer useable | separable transitive | The little boy wore his pants out. |
| wear out | make tired, exhaust | separable transitive | My daughter wore me out today. |
| weasel out of | avoid illegitimately | inseparable transitive | She weaseled out of her chores again. |
| weed out | eliminate, reduce | separable transitive | The librarian weeded the old books out. |
| weigh down | burden, depress, overload | separable transitive | All the stress at work weighs me down. |
| weigh on | burden | inseparable transitive | The problems weigh on me. |
| weigh out | measure (usually by weight) | separable transitive | She weighed the ingredients out. |
| well up (with) | fill with | intransitive | Her eyes welled up with tears. |
| while away | spend time in a relaxed way | separable transitive | She whiled the hours away. |
| whip out | remove or expose suddenly or quickly | separable transitive | He whipped his wallet out. |
| whip through | do something quickly | inseparable transitive | She whipped through her homework. |
| whip up | create, mix | separable transitive | She whipped some cookies up. |
| whittle away at | gradually reduce | inseparable transitive | He whittled away at his chores. |
| whittle down | reduce | separable transitive | She whittled her wish list down. |
| win out | finish on top | intransitive | Bad apples sometimes win out. |
| win over | convince, persuade, convert | separable transitive | He finally won me over. |
| wind down | finish | separable transitive | The organization winded its efforts down. |
| wind up | finish | separable transitive | Can you wind your speech up soon? |
| wind up | tighten (usually by turning) | separable transitive | I wound the watch up. |
| wind up | cause to behave wildly | separable transitive | All that soda wound the kids up. |
| wipe off | clean (usually by wiping) | separable transitive | She wiped the counters off. |
| wipe out | clean inside | separable transitive | He wiped the refrigerator out. |
| wipe out | massacre, destroy | separable transitive | The storm wiped the city out. |
| wipe out | make tired, exhaust | separable transitive | Hiking all day wiped me out. |
| wipe up | clean (usually by wiping ) | separable transitive | He wiped the mess up. |
| wise up | become smarter, become more knowledgeable | intransitive | The students finally wised up. |
| wish away | hope something goes away | separable transitive | You cannot just wish your problems away. |
| wolf down | consume quickly | separable transitive | The dog wolfed its dinner down. |
| work against | negate, oppose, counteract | inseparable transitive | Your lack of experience may work against you. |
| work around | overcome | inseparable transitive | You can work around your inexperience with training. |
| work at | try hard to achieve | inseparable transitive | He worked at graduating from college early. |
| work off | get rid off | separable transitive | She worked the donuts off with extra exercise. |
| work out | solve | separable transitive | She finally worked her problems out. |
| work out | exercise | intransitive | He works out five days a week at the gym. |
| work out | succeed, be successful | intransitive | Did your plan work out? |
| work over | treat badly, beat | separable transitive | The mobsters worked the man over. |
| work up to | gradually do more | inseparable transitive | He worked up to running a mile. |
| worm out of | avoid sneakily | inseparable transitive | She wormed out of writing the report. |
| wrap up | cover | separable transitive | He wrapped the gifts up. |
| wrap up | finish | separable transitive | The students wrapped their studying up for the night. |
| wring out | remove liquid by twisting | separable transitive | He wrung the towel out. |
| write down | record (usually in writing) | separable transitive | She wrote the directions down. |
| write in | record (usually in writing) | separable transitive | Let me write you in. |
| write off | dismiss, disregard, abandon | separable transitive | Teachers wrote him off. |
| write out | record (usually in writing) | separable transitive | She wrote her schedule for the week out. |
| write up | prepare (usually in writing) | separable transitive | I still need to write the report for my boss up. |
