He had been a sentence in a student’s thesis for an hour. The student had written that the protagonist of a novel had broken off the engagement, but Silas suspected the student meant broken up . To the untrained ear, the difference was negligible. To Silas, it was the difference between a jagged edge and a scattered debris.

If you do not need the exact PDF format, you can access the core COBUILD database for free on the official Collins Dictionary website. It includes the same corpus-informed definitions and examples.

The series is legendary in the world of English language teaching (ELT). Unlike traditional dictionaries that merely list words and direct translations, COBUILD dictionaries are corpus-based. This means they are built on the analysis of billions of words of real English (both written and spoken), ensuring that the language you learn is exactly the language people use in the real world.

For example, the phrasal verb "get on" can mean "to board a vehicle," but it can also mean "to make progress" or "to cope with a situation." With over 6,000 phrasal verbs in common use, it's no wonder that learners of English often find them challenging.

Traditional dictionaries often use abstract language to define words. COBUILD revolutionized lexicography by using full, natural sentences to explain meanings.

It is powered by the , a vast and continuously updated database of written and spoken English. The first COBUILD dictionaries were groundbreaking for their use of this corpus, which contains over 4.5 billion words, providing authentic evidence of how English is actually used by native speakers.

: Tools that highlight the most common verbs so you can prioritize your studying.

Many libraries offer legal ways to access digital content, so exploring these options is highly recommended.

Owning the dictionary—whether in print or PDF—is only the first step. To truly absorb these verbs into your active vocabulary, try these study methods:

Phrasal verbs are the ultimate gatekeepers to English fluency. To a non-native speaker, combinations like get up , run into , or break down can be incredibly confusing. The literal meanings of the individual words rarely match the actual definition of the phrase.

Whether the verb takes an object (transitive vs. intransitive).