Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to put in one's place

to put in one's place

9 7.2
Make someone feel ashamed or less important by showing your power
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : poner en su lugar
  • I put him in his place.
  • needs to put him in his place
  • put the man in his place
  • want to put Charlie in his place

Examples

  • Elizabeth's response puts Cameron firmly in his place.

    Blog text (27)

  • l just wanted to say... ...that was great, the way you put Jerry McDowell in his place.

    The Benchwarmers (2006)

  • And it's about time someone put him in his place.

    Blog text (14)

  • Before we make our demands, we must put him in his place.

    The Great Dictator (1940)

  • "I hear you put Benjamin in his place."

    Academic text (1994)

  • I'm so happy your dad put him in his place.

    Blog text (4)

  • Put him in his place, Joseph!

    The Work and the Glory (2004)

  • I'm gonna put that rookie in his place tonight.

    Champion (2017)

  • I've got the homecoming queen and now it's time to put the school bully in his place!

    The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)

  • It's time we put in his place that newcomer who thinks he knows everything.

Synonyms

to put down
vsto put in one's place
  • Offensive
55 4.9

To make someone feel unimportant by saying bad things about them

aims to correct by shaming and emphasising proper social rank
to put on the mat
vsto put in one's place
8.4

Scold a person in front of others for a mistake

uses shame and authority to correct and show someone's lower position

Antonyms

to empower
157 4.2

Give someone the power and confidence to do something

to elevate
  • Formal
52 4.4

To give someone a higher job or rank

How Humiliating

to mortify
22 6.9
to humiliate
  • Offensive
414 6.1
to put down
  • Offensive
55 4.9
to put in one's place
  • Informal
9 7.2
to correct
483 1.0

Surface Forms

put in one's place infinitive
put in one's place past
put in one's place past participle
putting in one's place present participle
puts in one's place third person singular

Morphology

put + in + one's + place

The literal components ('put' + 'in' + 'one's' + 'place') yield a clear image of positioning someone in their proper role, so a learner can infer a relation to correcting or repositioning someone. However, the pragmatic nuance of humiliating or asserting authority is a figurative extension that is not fully predictable without prior exposure (though many languages have similar expressions), making it only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The idiom put in one's place comes from the simple image of physically putting someone back into the right place, like seating a person in their proper spot to show where they belong. So, it now means 'to correct or embarrass someone' by making them aware of their proper position.