Idioms and Expressions: High School: Idioms and Expressions, List 5

This list focuses primarily on phrasal verbs.
10 words 25 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. keep track
    stay informed or fully aware of
    I continue to walk, keeping track of my distance down the unending hallway by counting the ladders. Challenger Deep
  2. size up
    look at closely in order to form an opinion about
    He was accustomed to sizing up other rabbits and deciding what they were good for. Watership Down: A Novel
  3. chance upon
    find unexpectedly
    Just when Alex became convinced nothing would ever be open again, he chanced upon an open hardware store. The Dead and the Gone
  4. zero in
    direct onto a point or target
    After you zero in on what you want, decide how you’ll get it. Washington Times (Nov 24, 2020)
  5. pan out
    be a success or work out to one's advantage
    All that said, if the early data pans out, this is very, very good news. Washington Post (Nov 9, 2020)
  6. gloss over
    treat hurriedly or avoid dealing with properly
    He made me sound way better than I really was, glossing over the passes I missed and exaggerating all the saves I pulled off. Darius the Great Is Not Okay
  7. hunker down
    hold stubbornly to a position
    The citizens of Ember were hunkering down, burrowing in. The City of Ember
  8. buckle down
    start working very hard
    Later that fall, I buckled down and studied for a do-over test, going on to pass it handily. Becoming
  9. kick the bucket
    die
    "We will part only when one of us kicks the bucket." BBC (Dec 18, 2016)
  10. bend over backwards
    try very hard to please someone
    It's almost as if he's bending over backwards to show he's everyone's friend. The Guardian (Jun 7, 2010)
Created on Tue Jun 03 13:48:42 EDT 2025

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