Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to learn one's place

to learn one's place

1 8.2
To accept your position in a group, often lower in status
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : conocer su lugar
  • You will remain in my service... ...and learn your place.

Examples

  • He was told to learn his place after challenging the authority of his supervisor.

  • And you will learn your place, young one.

    Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

  • Best to learn your place.

    Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010)

  • If we do not understand this, we need to learn our place.

    Blog text (9)

  • Should've learned your place on the fucking basketball court... but you fucking monkeys never get the message!

    American History X (1998)

  • It is past time the surface-dwellers learned their place in the world.

    Aquaman (2018)

  • In order to succeed in the company, she needed to learn her place within the team.

  • At times, the students must learn their place and respect the hierarchy among their peers.

Antonyms

to rebel
48 4.1

To act against the government or people in power

to overstep
11 5.9

To go beyond a limit or rule

How Assertive

to challenge
  • Formal
552 4.3
to learn one's place
  • Informal
1 8.2
to obey
411 1.0

Surface Forms

learn one's place infinitive
learned one's place past
learned one's place past participle
learning one's place present participle
learns one's place third person singular

Morphology

learn + one's + place

The basic idea — that someone should 'learn' what their 'place' (role or status) is — is compositionally derivable from the constituents and a B1 learner who knows the words could infer a general sense. However, the expression carries a pragmatic/idiomatic nuance of accepting a subordinate or constrained position within a hierarchy that may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The idiom learn one's place may come from old homes and schools where people were literally taught where to stand or sit, and servants or pupils had to learn their place at a table or in a room. So the phrase now means 'to understand and accept your proper role or position'.