Meaning & use
letting someone down
Last updated
“letting someone down” is a form of “let down”.
Meaning
phrasephrasal verb
failing to do what someone expects or needs, so they feel disappointed
Grammar: The object can go between let and down: letting your friend down, or after down: letting down your friend.
Patterns
- let someone down
- let down someone
She promised to come, and I hate letting her down.
He felt he was letting his team down by missing practice.
You're not letting me down if you tell me the truth.
Word forms
| base form | let down |
|---|---|
| third person singular | lets down |
| past tense | let down |
| past participle | let down |
| -ing form | letting down |
Common combinations
- let someone down badly
- The company let its customers down badly last year.
- feel like you are letting someone down
- I feel like I'm letting my parents down.
- let the team down
- He didn't want to let the team down.
- let yourself down
- She let herself down by not preparing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disappoint
- More formal and focuses on the feeling; let down is more personal and often about trust.
- fail
- Stronger and more general; fail someone means not helping them at all, while let down suggests they expected more.
Opposites
Word family
- letdown noun
- A disappointment or a feeling of being let down.
Commonly confused: letting someone down or let off? letting someone down or put down?
letting someone down vs let off
Let off means to not punish someone: The teacher let him off. Let down means to disappoint someone.
letting someone down vs put down
Put down means to criticize or insult someone. Let down means to fail them.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'letting someone down' correctly?
Choose one answer.
With this separable phrasal verb, the object can go between let and down: letting her friend down. Option 0 is also possible in some contexts, but option 1 is the more natural word order here. Option 2 incorrectly adds 'to', and option 3 uses the wrong preposition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “letting someone down”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.