to get (someone) down

Examples

• All

• It's just the world that gets us down, not new age healing practices.

  Blog text (12)

• The sour smell of the room was beginning to get me down.

  Fiction book (1996)

• Nothing ever got him down.

  Due Season (2022)

• "The heat in this place is beginning to get me down," she said.

  Fiction book (1996)

• Don't let it get you down.

  HorrorVision (2001)

• You're letting this retirement thing get you down.

  Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

• Look at those frail and fragile boys, it really gets me down

  South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

• It's the war that's getting me down, especially this tractor.

  Deadly Harvest (1977)

• I just think part of what's getting you down, Kim, is that, you know, you're not really doing anything, I mean, career-wise, career-wise.

  L!fe Happens (2011)

• Don't let this bad news get you down, there are better days ahead.

Synonyms

S

to sadden

vsto get (someone) down

76 2.3

To make someone feel sad

adds a sense of discouragement or lowered spirits beyond plain sadness

B

to bring down

vsto get (someone) down

• Informal

36 4.3

Cause a person or thing to be worse, for example making someone feel sad

is focused mainly on making someone feel unhappy or discouraged emotionally

B

to break someone's heart

vsto get (someone) down

• Informal

34 3.4

To make someone very sad because of love or disappointment

is more general, applying to many causes of sadness or discouragement

D

to demoralize

vsto get (someone) down

33 6.1

To make someone lose confidence or hope

is individual and emotional, not necessarily tied to group morale or tasks

D

to depress

vsto get (someone) down

32 4.1

To make someone feel sad and lose hope

is milder, meaning simple unhappiness or discouragement rather than deep hopelessness

G

to get down

vsto get (someone) down

• Informal

22 4.1

To make someone feel sad or less hopeful

is the everyday way to cause sadness or discouragement in someone

W

to weigh down

vsto get (someone) down

9 4.9

Make someone feel sad or worried

is simpler, meaning to cause unhappiness or discouragement without heavy burden

D

to dishearten

vsto get (someone) down

8 5.3

To make someone lose hope or confidence

focuses more on general sadness and feeling discouraged rather than motive loss

D

to deject

vsto get (someone) down

4 6.5

To make someone feel sad or less hopeful

is the common, everyday expression for causing sadness or discouragement

D

to dampen spirits

vsto get (someone) down

2 4.9

Make someone feel less happy and excited

can mean stronger unhappiness or clear discouragement rather than slight dampening

C

to cast down

vsto get (someone) down

1 6.3

To make someone feel sad or discouraged

is the neutral modern way to express making someone unhappy or discouraged

K

to knock the stuffing out of

vsto get (someone) down

• Informal

1 8.6

To make someone feel very tired, weak, or sad

is narrower, mainly meaning to make someone feel unhappy or discouraged

D

to dispirit

vsto get (someone) down

1 7.6

To make someone lose hope or confidence

is broader, covering simple unhappiness as well as lowered enthusiasm

T

to take the jam out of someone's doughnut

vsto get (someone) down

• Informal

9.9

To make someone feel disappointed or upset

is the straightforward phrase for making someone feel unhappy or discouraged

Antonyms

C

to cheer up

• Informal

234 1.4

To feel happier after being sad or to make someone feel happier

U

to uplift

23 3.2

To make someone feel happier and more hopeful

How Upset

to devastate

221 4.9

to depress

32 4.1

to get (someone) down

• Informal

87 4.2

to upset

362 1.0

to bother

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology