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LET DOWN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Fail to meet the hopes or expectations of
Example:
Her boyfriend let her down when he did not propose marriage
Synonyms:
disappoint; let down
Classified under:
Hypernyms (to "let down" is one way to...):
baffle; bilk; cross; foil; frustrate; queer; scotch; spoil; thwart (hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "let down"):
betray; fail (disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake)
come short; fall short (fail to meet (expectations or standards))
disenchant; disillusion (free from enchantment)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sentence example:
The performance is likely to let down Sue
Derivation:
letdown (a feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Move something or somebody to a lower position
Example:
take down the vase from the shelf
Synonyms:
bring down; get down; let down; lower; take down
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "let down" is one way to...):
displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)
Cause:
come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "let down"):
reef (lower and bring partially inboard)
depress (lower (prices or markets))
dip (lower briefly)
incline (lower or bend (the head or upper body), as in a nod or bow)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP
Context examples:
I let down the curtain and went back to the fireside.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
And to this purpose, several packthreads were let down, with small weights at the bottom.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
And when she came to the meadow, she sat down upon a bank there, and let down her waving locks of hair, which were all of pure silver; and when Curdken saw it glitter in the sun, he ran up, and would have pulled some of the locks out, but she cried: (...)
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to hide it not doing its office.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Of all the moveables in it, I must have been impressed by a certain old bureau of some dark wood in the parlour (the tile-floored kitchen was the general sitting-room), with a retreating top which opened, let down, and became a desk, within which was a large quarto edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I placed his arm-chair by the chimney-corner: I wheeled the table near it: I let down the curtain, and had the candles brought in ready for lighting.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The island being then hovering over a mountain about two miles from it, I was let down from the lowest gallery, in the same manner as I had been taken up.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Then he went into the field, and hid himself in a bush by the meadow’s side; and he soon saw with his own eyes how they drove the flock of geese; and how, after a little time, she let down her hair that glittered in the sun.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
I let down the window and looked out; Millcote was behind us; judging by the number of its lights, it seemed a place of considerable magnitude, much larger than Lowton.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
They made signs for me to come down from the rock, and go towards the shore, which I accordingly did; and the flying island being raised to a convenient height, the verge directly over me, a chain was let down from the lowest gallery, with a seat fastened to the bottom, to which I fixed myself, and was drawn up by pulleys.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
