To get rid of something is to finally make an unwanted thing go away. The cold, the sofa, or the person who will not leave.
It is a three-part phrase and it always stays together. It covers objects, habits, symptoms and people, which is a wide range for something so plain. The word rid barely exists outside it, apart from the phrase good riddance, which is what you say when you are glad to see the back of something. Dispose of and eliminate are the formal equivalents.
1phraseget rid ofTo remove or dispose of something unwanted.
“We really must get rid of that old chest freezer.”
Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 13 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word