English phrasal verbs

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dabble, smatter, play around
work with in an amateurish manner; "She dabbles in astronomy"; "He plays around with investments but he never makes any money"

dash down, dash off
write down hastily; "She dashed off a letter to her lawyer"

dash off, scratch off, knock off, toss off, fling off
write quickly; "She dashed off a note to her husband saying she would not be home for supper"; "He scratched off a thank-you note to the hostess"

daunt, dash, scare off, pall, frighten off, scare away, frighten away, scare
cause to lose courage; "dashed by the refusal"

de-escalate, weaken, step down
reduce the level or intensity or size or scope of; "de-escalate a crisis"

debar, forefend, forfend, obviate, deflect, avert, head off, stave off, fend off, avoid, ward off
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening; "Let's avoid a confrontation"; "head off a confrontation"; "avert a strike"

decelerate, slow down
reduce the speed of; "He slowed down the car"

decelerate, slow, slow down, slow up, retard
lose velocity; move more slowly; "The car decelerated"

deck, coldcock, dump, knock down, floor
knock down with force; "He decked his opponent"

decline, go down, wane
grow smaller; "Interest in the project waned"

decompose, break up, break down
separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts

defend, support, fend for
argue or speak in defense of; "She supported the motion to strike"

deflect, bend, turn away
turn from a straight course, fixed direction, or line of interest

defy, withstand, hold, hold up
resist or confront with resistance; "The politician defied public opinion"; "The new material withstands even the greatest wear and tear"; "The bridge held"

delay, detain, hold up
cause to be slowed down or delayed; "Traffic was delayed by the bad weather"; "she delayed the work that she didn't want to perform"

denounce, tell on, betray, give away, rat, grass, shit, shop, snitch, stag
give away information about somebody; "He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam"

depart, part, start, start out, set forth, set off, set out, take off
leave; "The family took off for Florida"

depend on, devolve on, depend upon, ride, turn on, hinge on, hinge upon
be contingent on; "The outcomes rides on the results of the election"; "Your grade will depends on your homework"

depress, deject, cast down, get down, dismay, dispirit, demoralize, demoralise
lower someone's spirits; make downhearted; "These news depressed her"; "The bad state of her child's health demoralizes her"

descend, fall, go down, come down
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way; "The temperature is going down"; "The barometer is falling"; "The curtain fell on the diva"; "Her hand went up and then fell again"

destroy, put down
put (an animal) to death; "The customs agents destroyed the dog that was found to be rabid"; "the sick cat had to be put down"

detach, come off, come away
come to be detached; "His retina detached and he had to be rushed into surgery"

determine, check, find out, see, ascertain, watch, learn
find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort; "I want to see whether she speaks French"; "See whether it works"; "find out if he speaks Russian"; "Check whether the train leaves on time"

determine, find, find out, ascertain
establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study; "find the product of two numbers"; "The physicist who found the elusive particle won the Nobel Prize"

detonate, explode, blow up
burst and release energy as through a violent chemical or physical reaction;"the bomb detonated at noon"; "The Molotov cocktail exploded"

devour, down, consume, go through
eat immoderately; "Some people can down a pound of meat in the course of one meal"

die back, die down
suffer from a disease that kills shoots; "The plants near the garage are dying back"

die down
become progressively weaker; "the laughter died down"

die out, die off
become extinct; "Dinosaurs died out"

die, decease, perish, go, exit, pass away, expire, pass, kick the bucket, cash in one's chips, buy the farm, conk, give-up the ghost, drop dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff it
pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life; "She died from cancer"; "The children perished in the fire"; "The patient went peacefully"; "The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102"

die, die out
cut or shape with a die; "Die out leather for belts"

dig, delve, cut into, turn over
turn up, loosen, or remove earth; "Dig we must"; "turn over the soil for aeration"

dig, dig up, dig out
remove, harvest, or recover by digging; "dig salt"; "dig coal"

digest, endure, stick out, stomach, bear, stand, tolerate, support, brook, abide, suffer, put up
put up with something or somebody unpleasant; "I cannot bear his constant criticism"; "The new secretary had to endure a lot of unprofessional remarks"; "he learned to tolerate the heat"; "She stuck out two years in a miserable marriage"

dip into
read selectively; read only certain passages from a text

disagree with
not be very easily digestible; "Spicy food disagrees with some people"

disappear, vanish, go away
get lost, as without warning or explanation; "He disappeared without a trace"

disappoint, let down
fail to meet the hopes or expectations of; "Her boyfriend let her down when he did not propose marriage"

disassemble, dismantle, take apart, break up, break apart
take apart into its constituent pieces

discard, fling, toss, toss out, toss away, chuck out, cast aside, dispose, throw out, cast out, throw away, cast away, put away
throw or cast away; "Put away your worries"

discipline, correct, sort out
punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience; "The teacher disciplined the pupils rather frequently"

discontinue, stop, cease, give up, quit, lay off
put an end to a state or an activity; "Quit teasing your little brother"

disentangle, unsnarl, straighten out
extricate from entanglement; "Can you disentangle the cord?"

dishearten, put off
take away the enthusiasm of

dismember, take apart, discerp
divide into pieces; "our department was dismembered when our funding dried up"; "The Empire was discerped after the war"

dismiss, disregard, brush aside, brush off, discount, push aside, ignore
bar from attention or consideration; "She dismissed his advances"

dismiss, throw out
cease to consider; put out of judicial consideration; "This case is dismissed!"

disorientation, freak out
a wild delusion (especially one induced by a hallucinogenic drug)

disparage, belittle, pick at
express a negative opinion of; "She disparaged her student's efforts"

dispatch, despatch, send off
send away towards a designated goal

disperse, dissipate, dispel, break up, scatter
to cause to separate and go in different directions; "She waved her hand and scattered the crowds"

dissolve, break up
bring the association of to an end or cause to break up; "The decree officially dissolved the marriage"; "the judge dissolved the tobacco company"

dissolve, break up
come to an end; "Their marriage dissolved"; "The tobacco monopoly broke up"

dissolve, resolve, break up
cause to go into a solution; "The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water"

distinguish, separate, differentiate, secern, secernate, severalize, severalise, tell, tell apart
mark as different; "We distinguish several kinds of maple"

distribute, administer, mete out, deal, parcel out, lot, dispense, shell out, deal out, dish out, allot, dole out
administer or bestow, as in small portions; "administer critical remarks to everyone present"; "dole out some money"; "shell out pocket money for the children"; "deal a blow to someone"; "the machine dispenses soft drinks"

distribute, give out, hand out, pass out
give to several people; "The teacher handed out the exams"

diversify, branch out, broaden
vary in order to spread risk or to expand; "The company diversified"

divide, split, split up, separate, dissever, carve up
separate into parts or portions; "divide the cake into three equal parts"; "The British carved up the Ottoman Empire after World War I"

divorce, split up
get a divorce; formally terminate a marriage; "The couple divorced after only 6 months"

do up
wrap for decorative purposes; "The gift was done up in pretty red paper"

do, fare, make out, come, get along
proceed or get along; "How is she doing in her new job?"; "How are you making out in graduate school?"; "He's come a long way"

doll up, do up, pretty up, glam up
use special care in dressing, making-up, etc.; "She dolled herself up for the night out with her friends"

doss, doss down, crash
sleep in a convenient place; "You can crash here, though it's not very comfortable"

douse, put out
put out, as of a candle or a light; "Douse the lights"

down, knock down, cut down, push down, pull down
cause to come or go down; "The policeman downed the heavily armed suspect"; "The mugger knocked down the old lady after she refused to hand over her wallet"

drag down, bear down, bear down on, press down on, weigh down
exert a force with a heavy weight; "The snow bore down on the roof"

drag on, drag out
last unnecessarily long

drag up, dredge up
mention something unpleasant from the past; "Drag up old stories"

drag, drag on, drag out
proceed for an extended period of time; "The speech dragged on for two hours"

drag, trail, get behind, hang back, drop behind, drop back
to lag or linger behind; "But in so many other areas we still are dragging"

drain the cup, drink up
drink to the last drop; "drink up--there's more wine coming"

draw in, retract
pull inward or towards a center; "The pilot drew in the landing gear"; "The cat retracted his claws"

draw off, draw away, pull off
remove by drawing or pulling; "She placed the tray down and drew off the cloth"; "draw away the cloth that is covering the cheese"

draw out
cause to speak, "Can you draw her out--she is always so quiet"

draw out
make more sociable; "The therapist drew out the shy girl"

draw up
form or arrange in order or formation, as of a body of soldiers

draw up, pull up
cause (a vehicle) to stop; "He pulled up the car in front of the hotel"

draw up, pull up, haul up
come to a halt after driving somewhere; "The Rolls pulled up on pour front lawn"; "The chauffeur hauled up in front of us"

draw up, pull up, straighten up
straighten oneself; "He drew himself up when he talked to his superior"

draw, pull, pull out, get out, take out
bring, take, or pull out of a container or from under a cover; "draw a weapon"; "pull out a gun"; "The mugger pulled a knife on his victim"

draw, take out
take liquid out of a container or well; "She drew water from the barrel"

dress down, underdress
dress informally and casually; "On Fridays, employees can underdress"

dress up, window-dress
make something appear superficially attractive; "The researcher tried to dress up the uninteresting data"; "Don't try to dress up the unpleasant truth"

dress, dress up
dress in a certain manner; "She dresses in the latest Paris fashion"; "he dressed up in a suit and tie"

dress, line up
arrange in ranks; "dress troops"

drift apart, drift away
lose personal contact over time; "The two women, who had been roommates in college, drifted apart after they got married"

drive up
approach while driving; "The truck entered the driveway and drove up towards the house"

drone, drone on
talk in a monotonous voice

drop back
take position in the rear, as in a military formation or in the line of scrimmage in football; "The defender dropped back behind his teammate"

drop by, drop in, come by
visit informally and spontaneously; "We frequently drop by the neighbors' house for a cup of coffee"

drop off
fall or diminish; "The number of students in this course dropped off after the first test"

drop out
leave school or an educational program prematurely; "Many students drop out because they are not prepared for our challenging program"

drop out
withdraw from established society, especially because of disillusion with conventional values; "She hasn't heard from her brother in years--he dropped out after moving to California"

drop out, give up, fall by the wayside, drop by the wayside, throw in, throw in the towel, quit, chuck up the sponge
give up in the face of defeat of lacking hope; admit defeat; "In the second round, the challenger gave up"

drop, drop off, set down, put down, unload, discharge
leave or unload; "unload the cargo"; "drop off the passengers at the hotel"

drop, knock off
stop pursuing or acting; "drop a lawsuit"; "knock it off!"

drown out
make imperceptible; "The noise from the ice machine drowned out the music"

dwell on, linger over
delay