Formal word to phrasal verb dictionary?

Question

I wonder if there is such a dictionary. I would like to find a less formal expression in place of a more formal word. For example:

ACCUMULATE (eg. accumulate debt) = run up

INCLUDE = add in

SUBMIT = deliver up, put up

QUARREL = has a run-in with

AFFLICT = ?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Hi Clarence.  None such precisely exists to my knowledge, but the definitions in most phrasal verb collections/glossaries/dictionaries will usually include more formal synonyms.

Guest · Answer

There are always lots of different ways to say the same thing. Here are some informal alternatives to the words you gave:

Accumulate: Build up, or Collect
Include: Contain, Involve, or to "Consist of" (These words are not really less formal, but 'include' is a pretty widely used word)
Submit: Give
Quarrel: Fight, or Argue
Afflict: Trouble, or Bother

I don't know if you can reach this site where you are, but try going to www.dictionary.com and click the Thesaurus option. It will give you a ton of alternative words to the ones you are looking for.

-Ashley

Clarence · Answer

Thanks for the replies. The reason I'm searching for such a dictionary is because as a non-native speaker, I tend to know more and use the more formal words in conversation, which, as I gather from a native speaker, would sound strange to him. For example, I would use 'tolerate' instead of 'put up with', or 'alight' instead of 'get down' (from the bus) -- to him, these formal words are more for "scientific" or "poetic" use. I find, and even as he also has commented, that non-native speakers do not use many phrasal verbs.

CalifJim · Answer

I agree. Non-native speakers tend to shy away from phrasal verbs.

Unfortunately, most dictionaries are set up to go in the reverse direction from what you want. But you might try something like "Practical Idioms: Using Phrasal Verbs in Everyday Contexts" by Berman and Kirstein. They present phrasal verbs in groups with exercises in which you provide the more formal verb from a list of choices. All you'd have to do with a book of this kind is to look at the answer key in the back of the book and work backwards, using the answers as if they were the questions.

Example.

Flying over the city, I could actually pick out my own neighborhood.

Here PICK OUT means ______ (contrive, identify, inquire, understand)

Answer: identify. (in the back of the book).

So after doing the exercises "forward", just turn to the back of the book, and there you read "identify". You answer: "pick out", and if possible, quote the sentence that illustrates it.

CJ

Clarence · Answer

Hi CJ, thanks very much for the information. I will try to check out the book from Amazon ( I've not seen it in the bookstores in my country). Hmm... I wonder if there is also some website that has something similar...

Anonymous · Answer

Yes, there is plenty of it. To retrieve the conversion of informal words into formal there is one website available on Google where you can find all you've been looking for.

10 Samples:

enamoured
She doesn't seem very enamoured with her new job.

afflict
Don't inflict upon others because you got afflicted by them.

deprive
I was deprived of getting a driving license.

remunerate
After the football match players were remunareted with a golden medal.

reprimand
It would be best if you reprimanded your friends about the party tonight.

rectify
He had realized he had made a mistake so he intended to rectify it.

intricate
The work I have been given was too intricate for me to finish it off on my own so I enlisted my friend's succour.

interrogate
Two men were interrogated by the police.

relinquish
She relinquished her job as soon as she realized she didn't get remitted adequately to her work she has done.

expunge
The congregation meeting was expunged due to a fire emergency.

I hope these samples give you an idea of how to use them with the sentences accordingly.

Thank you.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

A lot of these examples are either wrong or completely unnatural.

Were they written by native speakers? I'd be surprised if they were.

Best wishes, Clive

Formal word to phrasal verb dictionary?

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