20 Common Phrasal Verbs with "Get" - Meanings and Example Sentences (Audio)

Get up

to rise from a bed or chair. When someone who is sitting or lying down gets up, they rise to a standing position; to wake up after sleeping and get out of bed

I always get up very early in the morning.

You have been sleeping for 15 hours; you need to get up now!

It’s hard to get up for school when the weather is so cold.

Get over

to overcome a problem or difficulty; to recover from something bad; to start feeling happy or good again after something bad has happened to you.

Try to get over your anxiety.

She finally got over the divorce and started dating again.

It can take weeks to get over an illness like that.

Get on with (someone)

to have a good relationship with someone

He seemed to get on well with his roommate.

She’s such an unfriendly girl. It’s hard to get on with her.

It took John months to get on with his new co-worker.

Get rid of (someone/something)

to become free from someone or something; to throw something away

Finally, he decided to get rid of his ex-girlfriend.

How can I get rid of this terrible headache?

I need to get rid of some old clothes.

Get out of (doing something)

to avoid doing something; to escape from an unpleasant situation

Get out of this room. It’s burning.

Getting out of this relationship seemed hard to me.

She tried to get out of doing household chores.

Get through to (someone)

to make someone understand and believe something

I managed to get my messages through to him.

It’s a new idea. It’s not easy to get through to the managers.

Nancy failed to get her action plan through to the vice principal.

Get away

to escape a person or a place; to go on holiday

I’ve been trying to get away from the office since before 6 p.m.

Are you trying to get away from me?

I’m going to get away for a few days.

Get together

to spend time together

Let’s get together this weekend.

We need to get together for the new project.

Our family usually gets together on New Year’s Eve.

Get back at (someone)

to do something bad to someone because they’ve done something bad to you

Tim was determined to get back at his neighbor.

I’ll get back at him because he has hurt me so badly.

No one could prevent Sue from getting back at her step-mother for her mistreatment.

Get across

to succeed in communicating your message

It took him a while to get his message across.

I found it hard to get across how much I love her.

You need to practice how to get your message across in English.

Get back with

to have a sexual or romantic relationship with someone with whom you had a previous relationship

Are you trying to get back with him?

Don’t get back with her. She’s such an arrogant woman.

Getting back with him seemed impossible.

Get back to

to communicate with someone at a later time because you were busy earlier

I’ll get back to you later.

Remember to get back to him tomorrow. He’s been waiting for you the whole morning.

I’ll get back to work soon.

Get behind (with something)

to fail to do something as quickly as required

We were getting behind in our work.

Jenny got behind on the payments for her apartment.

She’s such a slow learner. She’s always getting behind on her work.

Get down

to make someone sad or depressed

His story really got me down.

Don’t let her know the truth. It will get her down.

When my work gets me down, I go traveling.

Get in on

to take part in something

He can’t wait to get in on the party tonight.

It’s a pity you couldn’t get in on the New Year festival.

Would you like to get in on our discussion tomorrow?

Get on

to get into a bus, train, taxi, or plane; to be successful in your career

My dad got on the plane at 8 a.m.

Tom is getting on the bus to school.

I believe that he’ll get on in the teaching field.

Get off

to leave a bus, train, taxi or train; to tell someone to stop touching another one or something

He got off the train and left the station quickly.

Get your dirty hands off me!

Can you please get your shoes off my bed?

Get through

to complete a task

How did you get through your English test?

Getting through this challenge is not easy.

Can you please help me get through this assignment?

Get round

to persuade someone to do what you want by doing nice things for them

We’d better get round Mom before asking her for some money.

He tried to get round her dad for taking her to the prom.

It’s not easy to get round the boss.

Get onto

to contact or communicate with

We need to get onto the lawyer

He got onto the police in order to report the crime.

It took us a while to get onto this topic.

20 Common Phrasal Verbs with “Get” – Meanings and Example Sentences (Audio)