put through
Britishverb
-
to carry out to a conclusion
he put through his plan
-
(also preposition) to organize the processing of
she put through his application to join the organization
-
to connect by telephone
-
to make (a telephone call)
-
Bring to a successful conclusion, as in We put through a number of new laws . [Mid-1800s]
-
Make a telephone connection, as in Please put me through to the doctor . [Late 1800s]
-
Cause to undergo, especially something difficult or troublesome, as in He put me through a lot during this last year . The related expression, put someone through the wringer , means “to give someone a hard time,” as in The lawyer put the witness through the wringer . The wringer alluded to is the old-fashioned clothes wringer, in which clothes are pressed between two rollers to extract moisture. [First half of 1900s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She said she was "desperately sorry that they have been put through this trauma as a result of whatever has happened".
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
“What he got put through probably would have destroyed 99% of people in his shoes,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Cellphones were banned from the ceremony, bags were closely screened and delegates put through a metal detector by a sizable security force.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
The mobile number was then put through police intelligence databases, which revealed a single piece of intelligence dating back to 2018, linked to that number, but with no name attached.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
To their enormous credit, despite the terrible ordeal they were put through, most of the marchers completed the route.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
