38 Useful Business Phrasal Verbs with Examples

 Business Phrasal Verbs! Learn business phrasal verbs and expressions commonly used in the workplace with meaning, examples and ESL pictures.

Learn more business phrases with list of useful business idioms in English.

Business Phrasal Verbs

Common Business Phrasal Verbs (1)

Branch out

• Meaning: Expand or extend one’s interests
• Example: I’m leaving the company to branch out on my own.

Break into

• Meaning: Enter (with effort or force)
• Example: It’s always been his ambition to break into broadcasting.

Carry on

• Meaning: Continue
• Example: He moved to New York to carry on his work.

Close down

• Meaning: Stop operating
• Example: The firm has decided to close down its Chicago branch.

Look forward to

• Meaning: Feel pleased and excited about something that is going to happen
• Example: We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Note down

• Meaning: Write something down
• Example: Her answers were noted down on the chart.

Common Business Phrasal Verbs (2)

Step down

• Meaning: Resign or leave (a position/job)
• Example: The chairman was forced to step down due to ill health.

Take off

• Meaning: Become successful or popular very fast
• Example: Her business has really taken off.

Take up

• Meaning: Fill a particular amount of space or time
• Example: These files take up a lot of disk space.

Weigh up (UK)

• Meaning: Consider carefully the advantages or disadvantages of a situation
• Example: I’m weighing up my options before I decide to apply for the job.

Back up

• Meaning: Make a copy of information
• Example: It’s a good idea to back up your files onto a memory stick.

Carry out

• Meaning: Do and complete a task
• Example: The building work was carried out by a local contractor.

Come up

• Meaning: Happen or arise
• Example: I’m going to have to cancel our meeting – something’s come up.

Common Business Phrasal Verbs (3)

Get on (UK)

• Meaning: Continue or start doing something
• Example: Can we please get on, because there are a lot of things still to discuss.

Keep up with

• Meaning: Follow
• Example: We try to keep up with what’s happening about financial news.

Set up

• Meaning: Start (a business)
• Example: The group plans to set up an import business.

Go through

• Meaning: Experience something bad
• Example: We can’t really imagine what our company’s going through.

Find out

• Meaning: Discover a fact or piece of information
• Example: Can you find out what our customers think of their local bus service?

Call off

• Meaning: Cancel something
• Example: With the weather worsening, they have called off their field trip.

Call back

• Meaning: To return a call or telephone someone again.
• Example: I’ll call you back when I’ve heard something about the interview.

Common Business Phrasal Verbs (4)

Deal with

• Meaning: Handle (a problem)
• Example: He’s good at dealing with pressure.

Drop in

• Meaning: Make a short visit without making an arrangement in advance
• Example: Drop in whenever you want—I’ll be at the office all day.

Fill out

• Meaning: Complete (a form)
• Example: It took me several hours to fill out the application form.

Hold on

• Meaning: Wait
• Example: We’ll hold on another minute, then we’ll have to go.

Join in

• Meaning: Participate
• Example: We would be eager to join in projects of that sort.

Lay off

• Meaning: Fire (staff)
• Example: We have no plans in the immediate future to lay off workers.

Put back

• Meaning: Delay or postpone
• Example: The meeting has been put back to next week.

Common Business Phrasal Verbs (5)

Run out of

• Meaning: Have no more of something
• Example: Many companies are running out of money.

Sort out

• Meaning: Organise or fix
• Example: We brought in a management consultant to sort out the mess.

Take on

• Meaning: Employ (staff)
• Example: We’re not taking on any new staff at the moment.

Take over

• Meaning: To begin to have control of or responsibility for something
• Example: He understands the business and can take over when I’m away.

Bail out

• Meaning: To rescue somebody from a difficult situation, especially financial problems
• Example: The bank helped to bail out the struggling company.

Common Business Phrasal Verbs (6)

Cut back

• Meaning: To reduce something
• Example: In times of economic hardship, firms cut back on training.

Go under

• Meaning: To become bankrupt
• Example: The firm will go under unless business improves.

Fall through

• Meaning: If an agreement, plan, sale etc. falls through, it is not completed successfully
• Example: The planned purchase of the racecourse fell through.

Pull out

• Meaning: To move away from something or stop being involved in it
• Example: The project became so expensive that we had to pull out.

Bottom out

• Meaning: To stop getting worse
• Example: Property prices are still falling, and show no signs of bottoming out.

Level off

• Meaning: To stop rising or falling and become steady
• Example: Inflation has begun to level off.

Useful Business Phrasal Verbs in English | Images

List of Useful Business Terms in English | Image 1

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List of Useful Business Phrasal Verbs in English | Image 2