to put into perspective
- phrasal verb
- So let's take a few moments then, to put into perspective the sheer amount of raw power contained in this little box.
- help put into perspective
- put historical facts into perspective
- put these numbers into perspective
So it, it, it just puts a lot into perspective and it helps me prioritize.
- So it, it, it just puts a lot into perspective and it helps me prioritize.
- Because I think that's what puts it into proper perspective.
- OK, that puts things into perspective.
- And I guess this is an experience that really, you know, put things into perspective for him.
- And his presence kind of shifts her life a little bit and makes her put things into perspective.
- OK, so this is another one where there's a level of truth to this, but again, we have to put it into proper perspective.
- But you described on your live stream, I'd love you to recap for us exactly how large the force that was fighting this fire was and put that into perspective for us.
- And, and when you're, when you lose someone or, or if perhaps you're faced with your own mortality, I think that puts that into perspective.
- So it really puts it into perspective, you know, that space isn't really empty, but intergalactic space is probably the emptiest.
- So that to me it's it's very, it's kind of important that we put into perspective.
Examples
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Any risk statistics are meaningless until they are put into perspective with benefit statistics.
Blog text (13) -
So your video was helpful because it allowed me to put it into perspective.
Blog text (15) -
You have to put it into perspective.
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Let me put it into perspective for you.
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I thought that saying how I feel would actually put things into perspective.
Blog text (22) -
To put it into perspective, your body is made up of trillions.
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Having thought about their own lives, students are ready to read about Wiesel's experiences and put them into perspective.
Academic text (1996) -
Moving beyond the destructive political theater, an extraordinary set of facts emerges that puts the entire controversy into perspective.
Academic text (2011) -
Dr. Peter Roeder, leader of GREP's final efforts, put this expense into perspective: "At first I thought, that's quite a lot."
Academic text (2013) -
The teacher used a recent event to put the importance of history into perspective for her students.
Synonyms
Think about how important something is compared to other things
To put information into its background so people understand it better
Antonyms
How Clear
Surface Forms
Morphology
put + into + perspective
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'put' (bring into a state) + 'into' (to a state) + 'perspective' (viewpoint or context): it literally means to place something within a viewpoint or context so its importance is clearer. This is a productive, compositional pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Put into perspective comes from the way artists show depth in a picture; when they put something into a scene with correct perspective, you can clearly see its size and distance compared with other things. So, to 'put something into perspective' now means 'to help someone see the real size or importance of something'.