Unit 22 - Phrasal Verbs

Front 1

brighten up

Back 1

1) start to have more colour or light

2) give smth more colour or light

3) start looking or feeling happier

4) I'd the weather brightens up, it becomes sunnier

Front 2

brush up (on)

Back 2

practise and improve your skills or knowledge of something

Front 3

check out

Back 3

1) examine smn/smth in order to be certain that everything is correct, true or satisfactory

2) if information checks out, you feel that it is true after examining it

Front 4

Liven up

Back 4

1) make smth more interesting or exciting/become more interesting or exciting

2) give smth a more interesting appearance, taste or other quality

Front 5

Make over

Back 5

change or improve the appearance of smn/smth

Front 6

Mess up

Back 6

1) make a mistake or do smth badly

2) make smth dirty or untidy

3) be the cause of someone's physical, emotional or mental problems

Front 7

Paper over

Back 7

hide a problem or disagreement rather than finding a satisfactory solution to it

Front 8

Patch up

Back 8

1) repair smth, often quickly and not very well

2) become friends with someone again after a disagreement

3) give basic medical treatment for someone who is injured

Front 9

Pick up

Back 9

improve

Front 10

Run down

Back 10

if an organisation or area is run down, its size, importance and activity is reduced (run-down (adj))

Front 11

Scrape through

Back 11

succeed in doing something, but not in a very impressive way

Front 12

Smarten up

Back 12

1) improve the appearance of smth, e.g. by cleaning or painting it

2) if you smarten up/smarten yourself up, you make yourself look tidy and clean

Front 13

Stand out

Back 13

1) be much more impressive or important than others

2) be easy to see or notice because of being different (outstanding (adj))

Front 14

Touch up

Back 14

make a surface look better with small improvements

Front 15

Waste away

Back 15

gradually become thinner and weaker over a period of time, usually because of an illness

Front 16

Write off

Back 16

1) damage a vehicle so badly that it is not worth repairing

2) decide that smn/smth will not succeed and stop giving them your attention and energy