Question:

She was so exhausted by the grueling schedule that she felt ready to __ under the sheer pressure.

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Visualize a structural cave-off. When a tunnel or ceiling has too much weight or pressure placed on top of it, it collapses inward—it caves in. People do the same thing mentally when they are overwhelmed by stress!
Updated On: May 21, 2026
  • cave in
  • buckle up
  • give out
  • tire out
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation


Step 1: Understanding the Concept:

The context of this sentence highlights a person experiencing extreme exhaustion due to a "grueling schedule" and facing "sheer pressure". The preposition "under" immediately following the blank is a critical structural clue. We need a phrasal verb that naturally pairs with "under" to mean collapsing, surrendering, or breaking down due to mental or physical stress.

Step 2: Detailed Explanation:

Let's look at how the options interact with the word "under": Cave in (Correct): To collapse inward physically, or figuratively to yield, surrender, or break down under pressure. The phrase "cave in under pressure" is a idiomatic expression in English. Buckle up: To fasten one's seatbelt in a vehicle. (If the option were "buckle under", it could mean to yield, but "buckle up under" is incorrect). Give out: To break down, stop functioning, or be exhausted (e.g., "Her legs gave out"). While it matches the exhaustion theme, it does not grammatically take the preposition "under" in this manner (you don't say "give out under the pressure" to mean surrender, you just say "give out"). Tire out: To make someone completely exhausted. This is a transitive verb phrase usually requiring an object (e.g., "The schedule tired her out"), and it is redundant when "exhausted" is already used in the sentence. Thus, "cave in" is the grammatically and contextually perfect selection.

Step 3: Final Answer:

The correct phrasal verb to fill the blank is "cave in".
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