let down

phraseB22 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To let somebody down is to disappoint them when they were counting on you. The failure is in the relying.

That is what makes it worse than merely disappointing somebody, since letting down implies a promise or an expectation you had accepted. It splits round an object. There is a plain physical sense too, since letting down a tyre releases the air and letting down a hem lengthens a garment. The noun a let-down means a disappointment, usually after something had been built up.

Definitions of let down

1phraselet downTo fail somebody who was relying on you.B2
“He promised not to let down the team again.”
2phraselowerTo lower something, or release air from it.B2
“Somebody had let down all four tyres.”

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 22 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

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let down

phraseB22 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To let somebody down is to disappoint them when they were counting on you. The failure is in the relying.

Definitions of let down

1phraselet downTo fail somebody who was relying on you.B2
“He promised not to let down the team again.”
2phraselowerTo lower something, or release air from it.B2
“Somebody had let down all four tyres.”

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 22 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word