Phrasal

Phrasal is an adjective meaning relating to a phrase or to a syntactic unit in language that functions as a single unit within a sentence. In linguistics, phrases—such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases—serve as the building blocks of sentence structure, and phrasal describes elements that belong to or operate at the level of these units.

The term appears most prominently in the concept of phrasal verbs, which are verbs that combine with particles (often prepositions or adverbs) to form a meaning distinct from the base verb. Examples include break up, look after, and put off. Some phrasal verbs are separable, allowing the object to appear between the verb and the particle, while others are not.

Phrasal structure is a central focus of many grammar theories that analyze how phrases group words into larger constituents. Phrasal units can be nested and interact within tree representations in syntax. Phrasal descriptions are common in descriptive grammars and in computational linguistics, where phrase-structure rules underpin parsing and generation.

As a general term, phrasal is not tied to a single theory but serves as a broad label for language elements defined at the level of phrases rather than sentences. It is also used in fields such as lexicography and literature to refer to phrase-level constructions.