put it past

verb

To consider it not possible for (someone) (to do something).

“I wouldn't put it past him to spread malicious gossip about you.”

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Meanings

verbput it past (third-person singular simple present puts it past, present participle putting it past, simple past and past participle put it past)

present singular third person puts it past · participle present putting it past

  1. idiomaticTo consider it not possible for (someone) (to do something).

    I wouldn't put it past him to spread malicious gossip about you.

    2 more examples

    I wouldn't put it past her to steal from shops, but I would put it past her to steal from her own mother.

    Since, as I mentioned, my arse is intact, I meditate first upon the pain in my balls. Jesus Harold Christ! I wonder if Monger's got some morphine kicking about. I wouldn't put it past him.

    2007, David Thewlis, The Late Hector Kipling, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 304
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see put, it, past.

    He smashed the ball with his left foot and put it past the goalkeeper.

Origin

From put past with placeholder it.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

put it past. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20it%20past

MLA

“put it past.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20it%20past. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “put it past,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20it%20past.

Source: put it past on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.