The Phrasal Verb 'Give Away' Explained
- 2 days ago
- 12 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'give away' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
This post is all about 'give away', which is a common English phrasal verb that can be used to talk about a wide range of subjects including football matches, competitions, secrets and weddings. In the post, I will explain 5 different ways to use it in English and for each of these, I will provide you with lots of example sentences to show you how and when to use them. In addition, I will give you an expression and a noun featuring 'throw away' that you can also use to impress your friends and colleagues. So, let's make a start and find out what the phrasal verb 'give away' is all about....
TABLE OF CONTENTSÂ (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
GIVE AWAY: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 5 |
Past tense forms | Gave away / Given away |
Separable? | Yes |
I know that you are here to learn about the phrasal verb 'give away', but the first step that we need to take in this process is to look at the individual words 'give' and 'away' and what they mean on their own....
Give - 'To give' is an irregular and frequently used verb in English with a range of different meanings. Its main meaning ,and the one that you are likely to know, is 'to transfer the possession or ownership of something from one person to another for free'. In addition to this, we can also use the verb 'to give' to mean 'to pay money', 'to make or produce a noise', 'to perform an action' and 'to break, bend or change shape under pressure' among others.
I am giving my son a cellphone for his birthday.
How much money would you give me to clean your house?
The little girl gave a squeal when she saw a spider on the wall.
The politician plans to give a speech in parliament about this.
My new shoes finally gave after I had worn them for a while.
Away - The prepositional particle 'away' is a common word in English but is not one that we see very often in phrasal verbs. We tend to use 'away' as an adverb to talk about moving from one point to another that is more distant and as an adjective it's main meaning is probably 'in a different place'. When it appears in phrasal verbs 'away' can add the idea of a movement away from a place to the main verb (walk away, go away), as well as ideas like disappearance (wash away), gradual reduction (fade away) and continuous or repeated actions (chat away).
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'give away'....
MEANING 1: To give something for free
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To donate |
Separable? | Yes |
The first application of the phrasal verb 'give away' that we will look at is the most common one and therefore the one that you are most likely to have come across before, which is 'to give something for free'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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To put this one another way, if you give something away, you give or donate something to another person without asking for payment or for anything in return. This is often used when the person giving the item away does not want or need it anymore. For example, if you have a baby, there will be lots of things that you need for it that you will no longer need as the baby grows into a child. Therefore, many people give these baby things away to friends or relatives.
You should note that we don't use this for giving birthday or Christmas presents as it is used more for things that we already own, while we buy new things for gifts.
I decided to give away my old clothes because they no longer fit me.
Valerie gave most of her books away before moving to a smaller apartment.
We gave away all the children's toys after they grew out of them.
Mike gave away his old bicycle to a neighbour's son.
They decided to give their furniture away, rather than paying to move it to their new house.
I usually give magazines away after I’ve finished reading them.
Emma gave away her old laptop when she bought a new one.
I've just given several bags of clothes away to a local charity shop.
Somewhere else that you are likely to hear 'give away' being used is in reference to competitions when companies and businesses offer prizes to people who enter them as part of a marketing or promotional strategy. When they do this, they often say that they are 'giving away' whatever prize is on offer. In fact, one of the meanings of the noun 'giveaway' means 'competition' and is often used as a synonym for it - more about this later!
Our local radio station is giving away concert tickets this week.
The company is giving away a free holiday to Mexico to one lucky winner.
We’re giving away five smartphones in our latest competition.
The website is giving away gift cards to celebrate its anniversary.
More rarely, in addition to small everyday items and prizes in competitions, 'give away' can also be used for when countries hand control of an island, piece or land or area to another country or owner.
The President has recently criticised his ally for agreeing to give away the islands.
Lastly, we can also use 'give away' to talk about when something is sold very cheaply or much cheaper than it should be sold for. It is like saying that the price for the items is so low that it is almost like you are giving it to someone for free. This usage may often be preceded by the adverbs 'virtually', practically' or 'almost'.....
They gave the house away for far less than it was worth.
Vernon practically gave his car away because he needed the money quickly.
Beth felt she had virtually given the painting away when she later discovered its real value.
MEANING 2: To reveal something secret
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To let out, to tell, to disclose, to divulge |
Separable? | Yes |
Next up, we have our second meaning of the phrasal verb 'give away', which is one that is all about secrecy and trust and means 'to reveal something secret'....
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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When we think about secrets and things that are secret, the main focus is on the idea that something is known by only a small group of people and others are not supposed to know it. This may be something verbal that you tell someone or it may be an action, a feeling or the true nature of something that a person wants to hide from other people. We can use this application of 'give away' to talk about all of these.
Firstly, we can use it to talk about revealing confidential information that someone else wants to keep secret and making it known to others. This isn't limited to secrets exchanged between people; it may also be something that we would prefer others not to know at that moment, so that they can discover it for themselves later e.g. the ending of a movie or the answer to a question that they need to solve.
Note that we use 'give away' often when this hidden information is revealed accidentally or unintentionally.
John accidentally gave away the surprise party during dinner.
Please try not to give the ending of the film away again; I don't want to know what happens!
Kelly gave away our plans without realising it was supposed to be confidential.
The report gave away details of the company’s future strategy.
Someone in the team gave the secret away before the official announcement.
I won’t give away the answer; you need to work it out yourself.
The interviewer almost gave away the winner before the final results were announced.
The newspaper article gave information away that the government wanted to keep private.
In addition to this, we can also use 'give away' with non-verbal information such as feelings and thoughts. This is often done by facial expressions and behaviour. For example, if someone is not happy about something but does not want to admit it verbally, their facial expressions or body language may give away their unhappiness instead. Likewise, if someone is lying about something that they have done, their behaviour or any evidence that they have left behind may give away the fact that they are not being truthful.
Once again, 'give away' is typically used here when the non-verbal information is revealed unintentionally. You should note that when we use it in this way, we say that something "gives the person away", with a direct pronoun being used for the person (him, her, them etc).
The fraudster's nervous smile gave him away immediately.
The way that Michelle avoided eye contact gave away the fact that she was lying.
Rebecca's sudden hesitation gave away her uncertainty.
Graham's reaction gave away how upset he really was.
Her expression gave away the surprise before she said anything.
The small mistake in the document gave away that it was fake.
Lastly, we can also use this for when something non-verbal reveals information that was previously unknown even if it wasn't intentionally hidden or kept secret e.g. someone's accent may give away where they come from or someone's clothing may give away what job they do.
Martin's strong Liverpool accent gave away where he was from.
The mud on Benjamin's shoes gave away that he had been outside.
The smell of smoke gave away that something had burned.
BONUS: The idiom 'to give the game away'
Before we finish this second application of 'give away', there is a common expression that I want to make you aware of that includes it: 'to give the game away'.
This nice little idiom simply mean 'to unintentionally reveal secret or hidden information' and is commonly used in reference to surprise plans, lies, deception and hidden strategies.
Oswald almost gave the game away by mentioning the surprise party in front of her.
Ed was trying to act confident, but his shaking hands gave the game away.
His nervous laugh gave the game away, and everyone realised he was lying.
MEANING 3: To formally present a bride for marriage
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To present, to escort, to walk down the aisle |
Separable? | Yes |
Do you enjoy weddings? Have you been to many in your life? If you have ever been to an English-language wedding, then you are likely to have heard this third application of the phrasal verb 'give away', which means 'to formally present a bride for marriage'.
In many English-speaking countries, there is a tradition in wedding ceremonies that the bride enters the church, along with her father, who walks with her up the aisle (to the front of the church), where the groom is waiting for her. This action is viewed as symbolic of the father formally presenting his daughter to the groom and giving his permission for her to marry him. This procedure is known as 'giving away', with the idea that the father gives the bride away.
Of course, in the modern world, marriage has become a lot more diverse in nature and not all marriages follow this tradition anymore. It is still widely practised though. Moreover, if the bride's father has died or does not have a good relationship with her, it is possible for another person to give her away in place of her father.
Lucy's father gave her away at the wedding ceremony.
Naomi asked her older brother to give her away on her wedding day.
When Tina's father passed away, her mother gave her away at the ceremony.
Alan's daughter asked him if he would give her away at the wedding.
Mandy's grandfather proudly gave her away as she walked down the aisle.
Both of Amy's parents gave her away together.
MEANING 4: To cause a game or competition to be lost
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere? |
Potential synonyms | To hand over, to cause to lose |
Separable? | Yes |
For the final two applications of the phrasal verb 'give away', we are going to focus on sport and competitions and therefore this next one is 'to cause a game or a competition to be lost'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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Earlier in the post, I talked about the idiomatic expression 'to give the game away', meaning to reveal secret information, however we now have a second usage of this phrase as it actually also means to lose a game or competition because of a mistake or error that a competitor or player makes.
This is a very common usage in team sports, especially football (soccer). It is mainly used when a team has a winning advantage or is in a position when they could win and then somebody makes an error or plays very badly, enabling the opposing team to steal the advantage and win the game. At it's core, this usage means that the team would have won if it were not for the poor play, which handed the victory to the opponents. It is understandably something that causes a lot of annoyance among fellow team members and fans.
The team gave the game away with two late defensive errors.
They gave away the match in the final minutes.
A careless penalty gave the game away to the opposition.
We were winning comfortably, but a series of mistakes gave it away.
The goalkeeper’s error gave the match away.
They dominated most of the game but gave it away in the last five minutes.
One poor decision gave the championship away.
The team gave away a two-goal lead and lost 3–2.
MEANING 5: To be mismatched in weight, height or time
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To concede |
Separable? | Yes |
Our fifth and final usage of the phrasal verb 'give away' is a rarer one that is also used in sports and means ''to be mismatched in weight, height or time'.
When two competitors or teams face each other in a competition, they are usually quite evenly matched in terms of ability and size, e.g. boxers normally fight other boxers who are in the same weight category as them and football teams typically play other teams who are in the same league.
There are times however when this is not the case and there is a mismatch in terms of ability, size or strength. When this happens the bigger or better competitor has a clear advantage over the other and to describe this, we say that the smaller or less able competitor gives away something to the other one.
Note that when forming this usage, we are always talking from the perspective of the disadvantaged competitor and we follow the structure below:
to give away + amount + noun + to + the competitor with the advantage.
For example, if one boxer in a match is 20cm shorter than his opponent, we can say that he gives away 20cm to his opponent. Likewise, if a runner has a head start of 5 seconds over another runner in a race, we can say that the runner who starts second gives away 5 seconds to the first runner.
The boxer gave away nearly ten kilos to his opponent.
Harry was much shorter and gave away several inches in height.
The younger player gave away five years of experience.
Despite giving away a lot of weight, the wrestler still won the match.
She gave away three inches in height but played much more aggressively.
The horse gave away several kilograms to the others in the race.
BONUS: The noun 'giveaway'
As with many phrasal verbs, 'give away' also has a noun that is derived from it: 'giveaway'.
You may remember from earlier in the post that I mentioned that one meaning of the noun 'giveaway' is a competition in which a company runs a marketing campaign where someone can win a prize and this is one that you is fairly common, especially online where most of these 'giveaways' are found....
The company is running a giveaway where you can win a free holiday.
I entered an online giveaway for a new smartphone.
The YouTuber announced a giveaway to celebrate reaching one million subscribers.
One other separate meaning of the noun 'giveaway' links back to the second application that we looked at (to reveal something secret) and we can use the noun here to mean a clue, sign or detail which reveals the secret or previously unknown information. It is quite common to add the word 'dead' before the word 'giveaway' when the sign or clue is very obvious....
His strong accent was a clear giveaway that Richard wasn’t from the area.
The nervous look on Shakira's face was a giveaway that something was wrong.
The spelling mistakes in the email were a dead giveaway that it was a scam.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'give away'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'give away'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END