To put back is to return a thing to where it was. Off the counter and onto the shelf.
It splits round an object, and it is one of the first instructions children hear. There is a second sense about time, since putting back a meeting means delaying it, and putting the clocks back happens every autumn in Britain. A third use is about setbacks, since a delay can put a project back weeks. Replace is the formal single word for the first sense.
1phraseput backTo return something to its previous place.
“Please put back the tools when you are done.”
2phrasepostponeTo postpone something to a later time.
“They had to put back the launch by a month.”
Also accepted in games: replace
Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word