put something behind one

verb

To recover from an unpleasant or traumatic experience; to overcome a negative feeling, especially anger, resentment, or grief.

“The losing candidate was just glad to put it behind him after months on the campaign trail.”

Similar
get overmove on
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

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

present singular third person puts something behind one · participle present putting something behind one

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo recover from an unpleasant or traumatic experience; to overcome a negative feeling, especially anger, resentment, or grief.

    The losing candidate was just glad to put it behind him after months on the campaign trail.

    1 more example

    Owen Hargreaves put his injury problems behind him with a fabulous goal on his debut as Manchester City beat holders Birmingham City to reach the fourth round of the Carling Cup.

    2011 September 21, Sam Lyon, “Man City 2 - 0 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport

    Synonyms: get over, move on

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo recover from an unpleasant or traumatic experience; to overcome a negative feeling, especially anger, resentment, or grief.

Similar
get overmove on
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: put something behind one on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.