To move something you are holding and place it onto a table, floor, or another surface.
She put down her bag on the chair and sat next to me.
A: Can you put down the groceries on the counter? B: Sure, I'll do it now.
When I get home from work, I usually put down my keys on the table by the door so I don't lose them.
Common mistake
✗Put down it on the table.
✓Put it down on the table.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'put it down'.
Tell it apart
Put the box down here.
set it on a surface
Put the box away.
return it to where it's kept
Use 'put down' when you want to say you are placing something somewhere, not throwing or dropping it.Not the same as 'put away', which means to return something to its usual place.
To say something that makes someone feel stupid or unimportant.
He always puts people down to make himself feel better.
A: Why did you put me down in front of everyone? B: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you.
In my opinion, it's important not to put others down, especially when working in a team, because it can hurt their confidence.
Common mistake
✗He always puts down me in front of others.
✓He always puts me down in front of others.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'put me down'.
Tell it apart
He's always putting me down.
insulting / belittling me
He's always putting me off.
discouraging me / making me lose interest
This sense is often used when talking about negative comments or making someone feel bad.Different from 'put down' meaning to place something somewhere.
To kill an animal painlessly, usually because it is very ill or suffering, often as a humane decision.
After years of illness, they finally had to put their dog down.
A: What happened to Bella? She hasn't been around lately. B: Sadly, we had to put her down last week. She was suffering too much.
Some people argue that it is more humane to put down animals that are in severe pain rather than prolonging their suffering.
Common mistake
✗We had to put down our dog to sleep.
✓We had to have our dog put down. / ...put to sleep.
Don't blend the two idioms — it's 'put down' OR 'put to sleep', not 'put down to sleep'.
Tell it apart
We had the dog put down.
euthanised — sadly
We put the dog down in the garden.
set it on the ground
'Put down' is a neutral, somewhat euphemistic way to talk about euthanizing animals, especially pets, in veterinary or everyday contexts. It is not used for people.This sense is unrelated to placing objects on surfaces (B1) or criticizing someone (B2). Here, it refers specifically to ending an animal's life humanely.