Prepositional Verbs

Words followed by Meaning

Preposition
1. Accountable for sth/ Responsible, Answerable
➢ Nobody can be held accountable for the loss caused by
the earthquake.
to sb ➢ The Director is accountable to the shareholders of the
company.
2. Agree with sb / to sth To have the same opinion
➢ Do you agree to this proposal?
➢ The king agreed with the minister.

3. Angry at sth / with sb Feeling or showing anger

➢ I am angry at his behaviour.
➢ The teacher was angry with the student for his
misconduct.
4. Annoyed at sth / with Feeling angry or slightly angry
sb ➢ I am annoyed at your habit of telling lies.
➢ I am annoyed with you for behaving so rudely.
5. Appeal aginst sth ➢ Formally ask to change
(decision) ➢ He appealed against the judgement.
6. Appeal for To make a serious request
➢ The government received an appeal for aid from the
refugees.
7. Appeal to sb To be attractive or interesting
➢ The café’s menu appealed to coffee lovers.
8. Apply for (job,loan To request something, usually officially
etc)/ to ➢ He applied for the post of supervisor.
(institutions/organizati
ons etc)
9. Ask for sth To make a request for something
➢ Mohan has gone to his uncle to ask for help.
10. Ask sb in To invite someone to come into a building or room
➢ I knocked at Rohan’s door, his wife asked me in.
11. Attend on To serve or take care of someone
➢ The maid was attending on her mistress.
12. Attend to Pay attention or to manage or take care of
➢ Please attend to what I say.
13. Attend upon To place oneself at the service of a person
➢ She has only one servant to attend upon her.
14. Authority on (Subject) An expert on it
➢ My teacher is an authority on History of Ancient India.
15. Authority over The power to give orders
➢ As a chairperson she has authority over the manager.
16. Blind in Blindness in eyes
➢ The hero of this movie is blind in one eye.
17. Blind to Refuse to notice something
➢ She is blind to the faults of her children.
18. Block sb in To stop someone from moving
➢ My neighbour’s car was parked in front of mine blocking
me in.
19. Block up To completely fill
➢ Fallen leaves have blocked up the drain.
20. Born in/of/to Start to exist
➢ He was born in a royal family.
➢ He was born of rich parents.
➢ A daughter was born to him last month.
21. Build around To base something on an idea or principle
➢ The whole film was built around the haunted house.
22. Build on To use a success or achievement as a base
➢ We hope to build on the success of our forefathers.
23. Build in Already existing
➢ The kitchen has cupboards built in.
24. Build up To increase or become larger or stronger
➢ The slow moving bus caused traffic to build up outside
the school.
25. Bundle off To send someone to a place quickly
➢ My mother wore me a thick coat and bundled me off to
school.
26. Bundle up To dress someone warmly
➢ My mother bundled me up with three layers of woollens.
27. Burn down To be completely destroyed by fire
➢ Last night lightening burnt down the old banyan tree.
28. Burn off To get rid of / remove a substance using a flame
➢ Young people burn off calories faster than older people.
29. Burn out To destroy something by fire/ To exhaust oneself
➢ The amazon fired burnt out the natural habitats of many
rare animals.
30. Burn up To burn completely
➢ The meteor burnt up completely in the earth’s
atmosphere.
31. Busy in Engaged in doing something
➢ He is busy in preparing his project.
32. Busy with sth Occupy oneself by dealing with it
➢ He is busy with his own business.
33. Care for To take care of someone or something
➢ They neither care for him nor for his opinion.
34. Care of Take care of - to watch over
➢ Take care of my dog when I am away.
35. Cause for A result or outcome of something
➢ There is no cause for anxiety.
36. Cause of A source of something
➢ What is the cause of his trouble?
37. Charge against To charge someone with a crime
➢ What is the charge against the man?
38. Charge for To ask someone to pay a particular amount of money
➢ He charged 100 rupees for his novel.
39. Charge to To add it to the account
➢ Kindly charge this amount to my account.
40. Charge with To impose a duty, task or accusation
➢ He was charged with theft.
41. Check in The act or process of reporting (hotel, airport etc)
➢ We had to deposit room rent in advance at the time of
check in.
42. Check out To find out if something is correct/ To examine
➢ The hospital checks out all its new staff.
43. Compare to To express similarity between dissimilar things
➢ Our life is compared to a candle.
44. Compare with To express similarity between similar things
➢ Compare villages with cities.
45. Complain against Expressing annoyance against someone in written
➢ We complained against him.
46. Complain of Complain of something (illness/pain/ something bad happened)
➢ He complains of pain in the stomach everyday.
47. Complain to Express dissatisfaction or annoyance to someone
➢ I complained to the station master against a ticket
checker.
48. Consist in sth To have something as the main or only part or feature
➢ Wisdom consists in knowing oneself.
49. Consist of To be formed or made up of
➢ The book consists of ten chapters.
50. Cure for A medicine or other treatment that cures the illness
➢ This medicine is a sure care for cough.
51. Cure of To have relief from a disease or condition
 ➢ He was cured of malaria.
52. Cut down Reduce the size, amount or quantity of something
➢ Cut down on junk food to be healthy.
53. Cut into sth To make something less or smaller
➢ Father cut into the cake to distribute it equally to all of
us.
54. Cut off To make a place difficult or impossible to enter, leave or
communicate with
➢ The city was cut off from all other areas due to floods.
55. Cut out for Naturally able or suited to do or be something
➢ He is cut out for a career in acting.
56. Deal in To engage in an activity or business
➢ We deal in imported clothes.
57. Deal with To tackle a situation or challenge
➢ Deal fairly with everyone.
58. Die for Dying for a cause
➢ Bhagat Singh died for his country.
59. Die from To die as a result of an external cause (accident/disaster)
➢ Some people die from malnutrition.
60. Die of To die as a result of a disease
➢ Many people die of cancer.
61. Differ with Disagree with someone about a subject
➢ We differ with you on this point.
62. Different from Not of the same kind
➢ Our plans are quite different from yours.
63. Dig into Examine physically with or as if with a probe
➢ We dug into the sand with our hands.
64. Dig up Digging the ground for a purpose
➢ The linesmen have dug up the road outside my house.
65. Drive out Going somewhere driving a vehicle
➢ My friends drove out the village resort to a picnic.
66. Drive off To cause or force sb/sth to leave
➢ The farmer drove off the cows from the field.
67. Dry off To remove the moisture
➢ We parked the car in the sun to drive off wet seats.
68. Dry out To lose the moisture and become hard
➢ The cake dried out because you forgot to cover it.
69. Dry up To make something completely dry
➢ The heat wave dried up all the rivers and wells.
70. Eat away To destroy or use something up
➢ Termites ate away the foundation causing the building to
 collapse.
71. Eat in To eat or dine at home
➢ I plant to eat in and go to bed early.
72. Eat into To use your time or resources(meant for other purposes)
➢ Going to London for the world cup ate into our savings
substantially.
73. Eat out To eat away from home, esp in a restaurant
➢ The young couple had no savings as they ate out every
evening.
74. Engaged in Involved in a particular activity
➢ She is engaged in conducting a workshop.
75. Engaged to Engaged to be married
➢ He is engaged to a rich girl.
76. Enquire into To find out more information about sth/Investigate
➢ The police will enquire into the case.
77. Enquire of To ask somebody something
➢ I enquired of him about his date of travel.
78. Excuse for A reason that one gives in order to explain
➢ He has no excuse for not doing the work.
79. Excuse from To allow someone not to do or attend something
➢ He was excused from doing physical exercises.

Prepared by
Rashid Fragrance