Word.ws English Dictionary

adverbial particle

adverbial particle noun: the adverbial component of a phrasal verb; a word, typically a short one, which functions as an adverb accompanying and qualifying the verb component of a phrasal verb.

Noun

adverbial particle (plural adverbial particles)

  1. The adverbial component of a phrasal verb; a word, typically a short one, which functions as an adverb accompanying and qualifying the verb component of a phrasal verb.
    • In the phrasal verbs 'set up', 'throw away', 'shut down', 'carry out' and 'take over', the words 'up', 'away', 'down', 'out' and 'over' are the adverbial particles.
    • The sentence 'He turns on everyone he meets' has very different meanings depending on whether the word 'on' is parsed as a preposition (i.e. turn on as "to attack or criticise suddenly") or as an adverbial particle (i.e. turn on as "arouse").

Forms of adverbial particle

pluraladverbial particles

Questions about adverbial particle

What does adverbial particle mean?
Adverbial particle means the adverbial component of a phrasal verb; a word, typically a short one, which functions as an adverb accompanying and qualifying the verb component of a phrasal verb.
What part of speech is adverbial particle?
Adverbial particle is a noun.
What is the plural of adverbial particle?
The plural of adverbial particle is adverbial particles.

Words near adverbial particle in the dictionary

  1. adverbial number
  2. adverbial numbers
  3. adverbial of time
  4. adverbial participle
  5. adverbial participles
  6. adverbial particle
  7. adverbial particles
  8. adverbial phrase
  9. adverbial phrases
  10. adverbialisation
  11. adverbialisations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: adverbial particle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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