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Glite Dictionary
to put down to

to put down to

6 4.8
To say that something happened because of a particular reason
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : atribuir a
  • I found the family's absence of gloating over his heroic acts puzzling, but put it down to humility.
  • just put down to
  • put down to the fact

They don't work, you know, so I put it down to like awesome hard work.

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Examples

  • What happened this afternoon could be put down entirely to nerves.

    Midnight in a Toy Shop (1930)

  • I felt lousy, but again, I put that down to jet lag.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • I put the holiday down to a guilty conscience.

    AstroVan (2025)

  • A few years ago, the media put it down to bird flu.

    Blog text (3)

  • There was no obvious reason, so people put it down to depression and the strain of the war.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • I can only put it down to hubris.

    War Machine (2017)

  • And this I put down to all the rich food and vitamins.

    A Clockwork Orange (1971)

  • Let's just put it down to the fact that I'm a bad neighbor, all right?

    Another Stakeout (1993)

  • If you don't get the job, put it down to experience.

    Blog text (33)

  • I can clearly put the team's poor performance down to a lack of practice.

Synonyms

to attribute
vsto put down to
228 3.8

To say that something comes from a person or thing

focuses only on cause rather than ownership
to ascribe
vsto put down to
35 6.8

Think that something is caused by a person or thing

is the everyday way to state cause rather than formal assignment
to chalk up to
vsto put down to
  • Informal
30 5.5

Say that something happens because of a particular reason

is a more neutral phrasing used in wider contexts

Antonyms

to dismiss
332 3.0

To refuse to accept an idea or claim

How Certain

to blame
∞ 1.6
to ascribe
35 6.8
to put down to
6 4.8
to suggest
∞ 1.6

Surface Forms

put down to infinitive
put down to past
put down to past participle
putting down to present participle
puts down to third person singular

Morphology

put + down + to

The meaning 'to attribute something to a cause' is a metaphorical extension of 'put' (to place/assign) with the directional particles 'down' + 'to' marking assignment; a learner who knows the words could plausibly infer a sense of assigning or placing responsibility but not precisely the causal/attributive meaning or the required argument structure. Cross-linguistically the expression of attribution varies, so the specific phrasal pattern is somewhat predictable from the parts but not fully transparent to an uninstructed B1 learner.

Etymology

Put down to gives a simple picture: you put down an item beside a possible reason, and to points at that reason. So if you say something was put down to a factor, you mean that factor 'caused' it.