🗓️ Idiom: Put Someone Down (phrasal verb)
💬 Meaning
- To make someone feel stupid or unimportant by criticising or mocking them.
- To insult or embarrass someone, often in front of others.
🧠 Example Sentences
- It’s not funny to put someone down just to get a laugh during a meeting.
- Even in a relaxed office, it’s important not to put colleagues down.
- She realised she had hurt his feelings after putting him down in front of the team.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from the literal idea of “putting something down,” meaning to lower it. In speech, it developed a figurative sense in the early 1900s — lowering someone’s confidence or reputation through criticism or jokes.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
It’s never acceptable to _______ your co-workers, even as a joke.
Answer
put down
2. Multiple choice:
What does “put someone down” mean?
a) To make someone laugh
b) To criticise or insult someone
c) To calm someone down
Answer
b) To criticise or insult someone
3. Change the sentence using “put someone down”:
“Jack embarrassed his colleague during the presentation.”
Answer
Jack put his colleague down during the presentation.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
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👉 Idioms for Humour in the Workplace
👉 Business English Idioms List
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