phrasal verb · informal
get back at
UK/ɡet bæk æt/US/ɡɛt bæk æt/GET·back·AT
speakingtask2
to take revenge on someone; to retaliate
Examples
“He wanted to get back at the bully who spread rumours about him.”
“I didn't want to get back at her, so I ignored the insult.”
“Trying to get back at someone usually makes the situation worse.”
Band 8 sentence
“Although he felt hurt, he knew getting back at them would only escalate matters, so he chose not to.”
Collocations
- get back at someone
- try to get back at
Word family
get back at (someone) phrasal verbgot back at past simplegetting back at gerund / participle
Common mistakes
I revenged him last year.→I got back at him last year.
I got back him.→I got back at him.
Say it for a higher band
5revenge→6take revenge on→7+get back at
Synonyms
take revenge on
get even with
Easily confused
take revenge on
“She vowed to take revenge on anyone who betrayed her.”
Related words
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In get …
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