Phrasal Verbs That Start With “N and O”
| Phrasal Verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Naff off | Tell someone to go away or leave. | He was causing a scene, so I told him to naff off. |
| Nag at | Criticize someone repeatedly. | My boss keeps nagging at me about being a few minutes late for work. |
| Nail down | Successfully achieve or obtain something. | They’re struggling to nail down the contract. |
| Nail down | Fully understand something. | I can’t quite nail down what’s wrong with their idea, but I know it won’t work. |
| Nail down | Obtain complete information from someone. | I can’t nail them down about when they’ll finish the project. |
| Nail down | Successfully secure or accomplish something. | I nailed down the job in the first interview. |
| Name after | Give someone a name in memory of another. | I was named after my uncle who passed away during the war. |
| Narrow down | Reduce options to make a decision easier. | I’m unsure which university to apply to, but I’ve narrowed my list down to three. |
| Nerd out | Discuss something in great detail. | When they asked about conditionals and deontic modality, I had to nerd out. |
| Nerd out | Play it safe and avoid risks. | I’m not going on the river trip; I’d rather nerd out. |
| Nip off | Leave quickly to go somewhere. | I’m nipping off to grab some milk. |
| Nip out | Leave quickly to go somewhere briefly. | She’ll be back soon; she just nipped out to the shops. |
| Nod off | Fall asleep unintentionally. | I nodded off during the speech. |
| Nod through | Pass a law or regulation without much debate. | Parliament nodded the bill through without thorough discussion. |
| Nose about | Search for hidden or secret things. | The police are nosing about to find evidence against the gang. |
| Nose around | Search a place for evidence or information. | The boss keeps nosing around our office during lunch breaks. |
| Nose out | Discover or find something, especially secrets. | He nosed out their plans after careful investigation. |
| Nose out | Beat someone narrowly. | The other candidate nosed him out by a few votes. |
| Note down | Write something briefly for future reference. | She noted down my fax number to send me documents later. |
| Nut out | Find a solution to a problem. | The management and unions had a meeting to nut things out. |
| Phrasal Verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Occur to | To come into one’s mind or be realized. | Didn’t it ever occur to you to help me when you saw how much trouble I was in? |
| Open up | To start talking more freely or honestly about something. | She finds it difficult to open up and discuss her feelings. |
| Open up | To begin business for the day or allow access. | They open up their shop at seven every morning. |
| Open up | To permit goods into a market. | Before joining the WTO, they had to open up their markets to foreign products. |
| Operate on | To perform surgery on someone. | She had to be operated on for eight hours to remove the tumor. |
| Opt for | To choose one option from a range of choices. | Despite the risks, she opted for cosmetic surgery to enhance her appearance. |
| Opt in | To choose to participate or be included in something. | If you want to receive our newsletter, you need to opt in by subscribing on our website. |
| Opt into | To actively choose to join or become involved in something. | By checking the box, you opted into receiving promotional emails from the company. |
| Opt out | To choose not to participate or be involved in something. | Employees have the option to opt out of the company’s pension plan if they prefer. |
| Owe to | To attribute the cause or reason for something. | She believes she owes her success to the support and guidance of her mentors. |
| Own up | To admit or confess to something, usually a mistake. | Despite initial denials, he eventually owned up to accidentally deleting the files. |
Read More Phrasal Verbs That Start With “M”