1.

Account for
Meaning: To explain the reason for
Example: Increased pollution may account for climate change.
2. Adhere to
Meaning: Obey
Example: You must adhere to the terms of the contract.
3. Allude to
Meaning: Mention in an indirect way
Example: She kept alluding to our agreement, but she didn’t
want to reveal it.
4. Bring on
Meaning: To cause something bad to happen, especially illness
Example: His heart condition was brought on by his diet.
5. Bring up
Meaning: To start discussing a subject
Example: She brought the matter up very late so they didn’t
have time to discuss it properly.
6. Come about
Meaning: To happen, especially by chance
Example: Increased unemployment has come about through
automated production.
7. Cut back
Meaning: To reduce
Example: They are cutting back expenses.
8. Do without
Meaning: To succeed in living or working without
Example: We can do without help from you.
9. Embark on
Meaning: To start a new project or activity, usually one that will
be difficult or take time
Example: After graduating from university, she embarked on a
career in banking.
10. Follow through
Meaning: To continue doing something until it has been
completed
Example: You will need to follow through with some reading if
you want to master the subject.
11. Frown upon
Meaning: To not approve of something
Example: Failure to attend classes is frowned upon.
12. Get across
Meaning: To make people understand something
Example: The teacher managed to get across how important it
was to attend lectures.
13. Get around
Meaning: To be heard by a lot of people
Example: News of his promotion got around very fast.
14. Get at
Meaning: To try to suggest something without saying it directly
Example: What are you getting at? Was my presentation too
long?
15. Get back
Meaning: To start doing something again after not doing it for a
period of time.
Example: Let’s get back to discussing how this happened.
16. Look forward to
Meaning: To feel happy about something that is going to happen
Example: I’m looking forward to meeting you later.
17. Look into
Meaning: To try to discover facts about something
Example: After several customers complained about late
deliveries, they decided to look into the matter.
18. Make of
Meaning: To understand someone or something in a certain way
Example: What do you make of the teacher’s decision to
shorten this course?
19. Map out
Meaning: To plan in detail how something will happen
Example: Her career was mapped out for her when she
decided to take that job.
20. Meet up
Meaning: To come together with someone
Example: Let’s meet up and discuss how we are going to go
about this project.
21. Narrow down
Meaning: To reduce the number of possibilities
Example: The detectives narrowed down the list of suspects to
just two.
22. Put forward
Meaning: To suggest an idea, opinion so that it can be
discussed
Example: The proposals were put forward last week, but the
committee didn’t have time to discuss them.
23. Put off
Meaning: To delay doing something especially when you don’t
want to do it
Example: Are you putting off writing that essay because you
can’t concentrate right now?
24. Resort to
Meaning: To do something unpleasant in order to solve a
problem
Example: We must resort to legal action of they don’t offer
compensation.
25. Rule out
Meaning: To stop considering something as a possibility
Example: The CEO said that yearly bonuses can be ruled out
in light of the financial crisis.
26. Run by
Meaning: To tell someone your ideas so they can give you their
opinion
Example: I have a few ideas for tomorrow’s meeting. Can I run
them by you?
27. Talk out of
Meaning: To persuade someone not to do something
Example: Her parents talked her out of living in a rented flat.
28. Think over
Meaning: To consider a problem carefully
Example: You should think it over before handing in your
resignation.
29. Turn out
Meaning: To develop in a particular way
Example: The presentation turned out well, considering how
little you prepared for it.
30. Verge on
Meaning: To almost be in a particular state
Example: His speech was so good, it was verging on genius.