let down

present singular third person lets down · participle present letting down

1. idiomatictransitiveTo disappoint; to betray or fail somebody.

   I promised him I would meet him there, and I will not let him down.

   3 more examples

   Just as they left, the younger of the two turned around and said, "Mr. President, I just want you to know that we're praying for you," and quickly closed the door behind him. I thought about these two men, and about the office workers that afternoon, and about the millions of others like them all across the country who still had faith in me. I knew that by resigning I would let them down.

   1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1973–1974”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1065

   I had some problems and no one could seem to solve them / But you found the answer / You told me to take this chance and learn the ways of love / My baby, and all that it has to offer / In time you will see that love won't let you down.

   1982, DeBarge, “All This Love (DeBarge song)”, in All This Love (album)

   ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan said: "AWC has continued to cancel services and, every day, continued to let passengers down. But the Government doesn't seem to care.

   2023 April 5, “Network News: Conservatives accused of "rewarding Avanti's failure"”, in RAIL, number 980, page 6

   Synonyms: cross up, dingo, sell out, stab in the back, assfuck, betray, burn, cop out · Antonyms: come through, keep faith, abide by, hold on, keep faith, go to the wall for someone, stand by, stick by

2. transitivebusinessTo lengthen by undoing and resewing a hem.

   Antonyms: take in

3. intransitiveTo reduce one's level of effort.
4. To soften in tempering.

   to let down tools or cutlery

5. cookingTo thin; to reduce the thickness or viscosity of.

   let the sauce down with a little pasta water if it starts to become too thick; if the soup is too thick, you can let it down with a little milk; let the sauce down with a dash of the pickling liquor; use some of the stock to let down the onion sauce

6. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see let, down: especially, to allow to descend.

   let down a rope

   1 more example

   let down your hair

   Antonyms: put up