On
Over
With
Out
Misc. Particles
100
PICK ON "The other girls picked on Julie after she wore an ugly shirt."
To bully, to harass.
100
MAKE OVER "Heather made over her frumpy cousin so she would look nice for the prom."
To renovate or convert to a different use; to give a new physical appearance.
100
DO AWAY WITH "America did away with slavery in 1865."
To destroy or make an end of something.
100
ACT OUT "The child was acting out in the grocery store. She was screaming and throwing things."
To express feelings through disruptive actions.
100
TAKE AFTER "Kids tend to take after their parents."
To resemble in appearance or habit.
200
LOOK ON "Mary looked on on with interest as her sister played the violin."
To watch or observe something.
200
WIN OVER "Politicians want to win over a large number of voters, so sometimes they make promises that they can't keep."
To gain someone's support; to make someone understand the truth of something.
200
MESS WITH "Joe messed with with my head when he hid my wallet and said it had gone missing."
To interfere with; to joke around with someone in an unfriendly manner.
200
FREAK OUT "When I saw that he had used my gift card without asking, I freaked out."
To react with extreme anger or fear to the point of becoming irrational.
200
PIECE TOGETHER "The detective has to piece together the story from the clues."
To assemble from fragments or parts; to reconstruct an event from incomplete elements.
300
THROW ON "Mike was late for school, so he threw on his pants and ran out of the door."
To put on clothes quickly.
300
TALK OVER "I was against the plan, but after we talked it over, I was convinced."
To discuss thoroughly; to persuade someone.
300
GO THROUGH WITH "I was nervous and wasn't sure if I wanted to do the play, but eventually I did go through with it."
To carry out a plan as intended; to proceed or continue.
300
FLUNK OUT "Kyle isn't in summer session anymore. He flunked out."
To fail to finish school based on academic shortcomings.
300
COOL DOWN "After our run, we walked another mile to cool down."
To perform gentle exercise at the end of a training session in order to relax muscles.
400
PRESS ON "A marathon is difficult, but a well-trained runner will press on through the pain."
To persist; to continue through difficulties.
400
SMOOTH OVER "The situation between the coworkers was tense, but their manager was able to address the situation and smooth it over."
To pacify; to make a difficult situation better.
400
TOY WITH "Mike was interested in Jenny, but she didn't want to date him. She was just toying with him."
To handle something frivolously or carelessly.
400
PASS OUT "I was so tired after the field trip, I just passed out."
To faint; to fall asleep.
400
FALL BEHIND "Don't slack on your homework or you will fall behind."
To be late; to be progressively less than average in performance.
500
DWELL ON "It was clear that Fred's comments had bothered Dean; he kept dwelling on them."
To continue to talk or think about something.
500
DOUBLE OVER "Greg has food poisoning! He is doubled over in the bathroom!"
To bend over at the waist, usually in pain.
500
FIDDLE WITH "I don't really know anything about computers, but when mine is broken I just fiddle with it until it works again."
To manipulate an object restlessly; to adjust; to tweak; to change something's position.
500
LEAVE OUT. "There was a part of the story I didn't want to tell me mom, so I left it out."
To omit; to exclude.
500
ROOT FOR "I root for the Boston Red Sox."
To encourage or cheer on a particular person or team.
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