Jump To:

• put-down
  put-down

  noun

  a landing of an aircraft.
• put down
  put down

  verb

  to make a written record of

put-down

American  

[poot-doun] / ˈpʊtˌdaʊn /

Or putdown

noun

put-downs plural

1. a landing of an aircraft.

2. Informal.

   1. a disparaging, belittling, or snubbing remark.

   2. a remark or act intended to humiliate or embarrass someone.

---

put down British  

verb

1. to make a written record of

2. to repress

   to put down a rebellion

3. to consider; account

   they put him down for an ignoramus

4. to attribute

   I put the mistake down to his inexperience

5. to put to death, because of old age or illness

   the vet put the cat down

6. to table on the agenda

   the MPs put down a motion on the increase in crime

7. to put (a baby) to bed

8. to dismiss, reject, or humiliate

---

noun

1. a cruelly crushing remark

put down Idioms  

1. Write down; also, enter in a list. For example, Please put down my name for a free ticket , or Put me down as a subscriber . [Second half of 1500s]

2. Bring to an end, repress, as in They managed to put down the rebellion in a single day , or We've got to put down these rumors about a takeover . [c. 1300]

3. Kill a sick animal, as in The vet said the dog must be put down . [Mid-1500s] Also see put away , def. 5.

4. Belittle, disparage, criticize, as in Her husband was always putting her down . [c. 1400] Also see run down , def. 6.

5. Ascribe, attribute, as in We put her poor performance down to stage fright . [Late 1700s]

6. Regard, classify, as in We put her down as a hypochondriac . [Mid-1800s]

7. Pay a deposit, as in We put down $2,000 for the car .

8. Store for future use, as in David put down ten cases of this year's Chablis . [Mid-1800s]

9. Land in an aircraft; also, land an aircraft, as in What time will we put down at Heathrow ? or She put the plane down exactly on the runway . [c. 1930]

10. Put a child to bed, as in The sitter said she'd put Brian down at 8:30 . [Second half of 1900s]

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• put-downs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of put-down

First recorded in 1960–65; noun use of verb phrase put down

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

put-down put down put-downs

Trump, who has feuded with O'Donnell for decades, saw an opportunity for a put-down when the veteran comic's name came up during Wednesday's meeting.

From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2025

It was not only her contemptuous put-down: “You have no foreign policy experience and it shows.”

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2023

Industrial policy was for Europeans; a common put-down was that it was “dirigiste,” a French term for “directed.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2023

“Beatnik is put-down, negative, drag,” he explained to The Los Angeles Times in 1969.

From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2022

My comments must have struck Farmer as a put-down, because when I looked across the room his pale blue eyes were fixed on me.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

A grill can be more than the place where dinner happens; it can become the center of the party, giving everyone a reason to pull up a chair, put down their phone and get involved.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

In some cities, first-time buyers typically put down more than 20%.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

AFP witnessed one volunteer urging soldiers to put down their rifles and help with the rubble removal.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

Therefore, dogs across the world are usually put down if they are known to have rabies.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

He put down his device and gave Emma a gimme-gimme hand gesture.

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

Count Glenn Whipp in Camp Mulligan: “Her dry put-downs mask a fury that she eventually unleashes with seismic force. Mulligan has been consistently great, but I don’t remember her being this ferocious — or funny.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026

Trump's spokeswoman -- who is best known for her acid put-downs of journalists -- posted a picture of herself in a nursery, cradling her baby daughter to her chest.

From Barron's ● May 7, 2026

The first Stanford was made of real students, who defy tidy put-downs of “kids these days.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

Bondi’s tired put-downs were so bad that “Saturday Night Live” parodied them over the weekend, with guest host Amy Poehler playing the pouty attorney general.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2025

At the colleges, I’ve developed some stock put-downs for them: “You must be a law student, aren’t you?”

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

Related Words

• jibe