Thirty phrasal verbs cover most of what happens at work: starting (kick off), communicating (reach out, loop in, follow up), deciding (weigh in, sign off on), fixing (iron out, hash out) and finishing (wrap up). Learn each one with its preposition, a work example and its noun form (“a follow-up”, “a kick-off”), because the noun is often what you’ll write.
Phrasal verbs are everywhere in office English, and they’re a big part of why meetings can feel faster than textbook English. The good news: about thirty of them cover most of what happens at work. Here they are, grouped by situation, with a real example and the noun form where there is one.
Starting and planning
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| kick off | start | “Let’s kick off. Thanks for joining.” (noun: a kick-off) |
| set up | arrange, organize | “Let’s set up a quick sync tomorrow.” (noun: a setup) |
| come up with | think of an idea or plan | “We need to come up with a plan B.” |
| flesh out | add detail to an idea | “Can you flesh it out into a one-pager?” |
| take on | accept work or responsibility | “I can’t take on another project this month.” |
| put off | postpone | “Let’s put off the decision until we have the numbers.” |
Communicating and keeping people informed
follow up
To take further action after something, such as checking on progress or sending more information.
“I’ll follow up with the client and confirm the date.”
How to use it: Two words as a verb, hyphenated as a noun or adjective: “a follow-up email”. One of the most useful work verbs to master.
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| reach out | contact someone | “Feel free to reach out if you need access.” |
| loop in | include someone in a conversation | “Let me loop in Legal before we commit.” |
| get back to | reply later | “I’ll get back to you by tomorrow afternoon.” |
| bring up | mention a topic | “I’ll bring it up at the next standup.” |
| touch on | mention briefly | “I’ll touch on the budget at the end.” |
| run by | ask for an opinion or approval | “Let me run this by my manager first.” |
| catch up | update each other | “Let’s catch up next week.” (noun: a catch-up) |
Discussing and deciding
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| weigh in | give your opinion | “Priya, do you want to weigh in on the timeline?” |
| chime in | add a comment | “Feel free to chime in if you’ve seen this before.” |
| push back | resist, question | “Procurement pushed back on the price.” (noun: pushback) |
| hash out | discuss until you agree | “Let’s get both teams in a room and hash out the roadmap.” |
| sign off on | approve officially | “The CFO still needs to sign off on the discount.” (noun: sign-off) |
| back up | support with evidence | “Can we back up that claim with customer data?” |
| turn down | refuse | “I turned down the offer because the role was on-site.” |
Analyzing and fixing
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| figure out | understand or solve | “We need to figure out why sign-ups dropped.” |
| drill down | look in more detail | “Can we drill down into which region is driving the drop?” |
| iron out | fix small remaining problems | “We agree in principle; we just need to iron out the details.” |
| sort out | resolve, organize | “IT is sorting out the access issue today.” |
| zoom in on | focus on one part | “Let’s zoom in on the Brazil numbers.” |
Finishing and handing over
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| wrap up | finish | “We’re at time, so let’s wrap up.” (noun: a wrap-up) |
| walk through | explain step by step | “Let me walk you through the new process.” (noun: a walkthrough) |
| hand over (to) | pass work or the turn to speak | “Now I’ll hand over to Leila.” (noun: a handover) |
| roll out | launch gradually | “We’ll roll out the feature to 10% of users first.” (noun: a rollout) |
Three things that make phrasal verbs easier
1. Learn the preposition with the verb. “Weigh in on a topic”, “sign off on a budget”, “loop someone in”. The small word is the part people forget.
2. Learn the noun form. In writing, you’ll often use the noun: “a quick catch-up”, “the project kick-off”, “a follow-up email”, “we got some pushback”.
3. Notice where the object goes. With many phrasal verbs, a pronoun goes in the middle: “loop her in”, “turn it down”, “walk you through”. “Turn down it” is a common mistake.
Are phrasal verbs too informal?
Mostly no. “Follow up”, “reach out”, “sign off on” and “roll out” are standard business English, in email and in documents. In very formal writing, such as contracts or a board report, you can swap a few for single verbs: contact, approve, postpone, resolve.
Want to see these in action? Most of them appear in our lists of meeting phrases and corporate jargon explained. In WorkWords, each one has its own card with an example and audio, and comes back for review on a spaced schedule so it sticks.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common phrasal verbs at work?
Follow up, reach out, loop in, kick off, wrap up, weigh in, push back, sign off on, figure out and run something by someone are among the ones you’ll hear every week in English-speaking offices.
Is “follow up” one word or two?
Two words as a verb (“I’ll follow up with the client”), hyphenated as a noun or adjective (“a follow-up email”). The same pattern applies to kick off / kick-off and wrap up / wrap-up.
Are phrasal verbs too informal for work emails?
Most are fine. “Follow up”, “reach out” and “sign off on” are standard business English. A few, like “ping”, are chat-style; in very formal writing you can swap them for single verbs like “contact” or “approve”.
The team behind WorkWords, the vocabulary app for English at work. Every phrase is checked against real workplace use and written with a usage note.
