Business Phrasal Verbs and Compounds with “Down”

Posted on March 1, 2016

By Emily Stallard

 

What phrasal verbs with “down” do you know already? Phrasal verbs can really make your English sound natural and native-like. It’s also important to be able to understand what your colleagues are saying! In my experience, with phrasal verbs it’s good to develop an image in your head of how a situation might look and why that particular verb is used.

 

Phrasal verbs with “down” usually have the idea of negativity, reducing or physically going down.

 

Calm down
Most of you will have heard this one, I have the image of someone standing up in anger then sitting down calmly as they calm down.

 

Back down
If someone backs down they have finally accepted the other person’s position. Think of someone walking backwards to their seat and sitting down.

 

Turn down
To reject. You could say “They offered their services but we turned them down.”
This is not to be confused with a “downturn” which is an economic decline. 2008 was the beginning of the global economic downturn.

 

Play down
To say that something is not so bad or not so important. A chairperson might play down the threat of redundancy.

 

To go down well or To go down badly
To be received. Think of eating something delicious and it “goes down” well, so can information or proposals. “That new idea went down well with the investors”.

 

To take something down or to note something down
This means to write it down. It seems like something very short. If you were writing a blog post or a book you wouldn’t use “down”.

 

Next time you hear new phrasals verb with “down”, consider whether it includes the idea of negativity, reducing or physically going down. This will help you work out the meaning of new phrasal verbs.