DictionaryAI

let

LET/lɛt/

Formslets, letting, let

13 meanings of let

Practice

  1. 1
    allowverbtransitive
    To allow someone or something to do something, or not prevent it; used with a bare infinitive.

    Let the children play outside.

    She never lets anyone drive her car.

    UsageFollow with a verb without to: let him come (not incorrect: let him to come). In the passive, be allowed to is more usual.

    Similarallow, permit

    Oppositeprevent, forbid, stop, prohibit

    Note

    Permission is the oldest thread here. Old English lǣtan meant to allow, to let go and to leave. In the passive the pattern wobbles. Shakespeare writes "as I am let to know," adding the to. Le Guin keeps it bare in "he could not be let die."

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The permission sense is inherited from Old English lǣtan, which meant allow, let go and leave. en.wiktionary.org
    • Shakespeare wrote the quoted fragment with to; a sailor speaks it in Hamlet, Act IV, scene vi. folgerdigitaltexts.org
    • Ursula K. Le Guin used the quoted fragment without to in The Tombs of Atuan. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    verbauxiliarytransitive
    Used to introduce a first- or third-person imperative.

    Let the record show that the committee voted against the plan.

    Let him try and see what happens.

    UsageLet's makes a suggestion that includes the speaker: let's go. The full let us sounds formal.

    Note

    Grammar has turned permission into a way of giving orders to people the ordinary imperative cannot address: us, me, him, even there. Let's is the contracted form of let us. Mathematics uses the same construction to set up a supposition, as in let x be the number of apples in the basket. Nobody is being asked for leave there. The sentence simply declares what is to be assumed.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The imperative construction developed from the permission meaning of let. cs.lmu.edu
    • Let's is a contraction of let us. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 3
    make knownverbtransitive
    To cause, with a bare infinitive; now only with know or be.

    Please let her know we've landed.

    If your flight is delayed, let us know and we'll arrange a later pickup.

    UsageMost common in let someone know, meaning tell them: let me know if you're coming.

    Note

    An old causative once took almost any verb after it. Malory's king "lete serche" how many were slain, meaning he had a search made. Keats still writes of hours that "let creep the sand." Today the sense lives only in two fixed pairings, let know and let be, as in let me know and let it be said. In those it is easy to mistake for simple permission.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Malory describes the king having a search made to determine how many of his people were slain, using 'lete serche'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Keats wrote of hours that 'let creep the sand'. johnkeats.uvic.ca
  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To permit someone or something to come in, go out, or get through somewhere, with a word such as "in", "out", "into", or "through".

    Open the windows and let some fresh air in while you paint.

    My neighbor has a spare key, so she let herself into the apartment to water the plants.

    UsageWith in or out, put pronouns before the particle: let it out. Nouns allow either order: let the dog out, let out the dog.

    Similarallow

    Note

    The particle can sit on either side of a noun (let the dog out, let out the dog) but must follow a pronoun (let it out, never let out it). Let yourself in means entering on your own, usually with a key, with nobody opening the door. Figurative uses grow from this literal one: let someone in on a secret, let off steam, and school lets out, meaning it ends for the day.

  5. 5
    leave aloneverbtransitive
    To allow to be or do without interference, or to leave alone.

    Let it alone and it will heal.

    Let them be, they're only talking.

    UsageMostly in let someone be. Otherwise leave it alone is more usual, since let alone now usually means 'not to mention'.

    Similarleave

    Note

    Here permission shades into simply leaving something alone. The Old English verb carried that meaning too, since lǣtan covered "let go" and "leave" as well as "allow." Let me be and let it alone ask only for non-interference. Spenser stretches the sense further, to a lily that neither spins nor frets but lets all her care to Nature. The care is left in another's keeping.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Old English lǣtan, the ancestor of permission let, meant allow, let go, and leave. en.wiktionary.org
    • Spenser describes a lily that neither spins nor frets and leaves her care to mother Nature, in The Faerie Queene, Book II, Canto VI, stanza 16. upload.wikimedia.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of let apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–5, 7–10

The Old English verb lǣtan could mean to allow, to release, to bequeath, to leave or to rent out, and Middle English made it leten. Reconstructed ancestors are Proto-West Germanic *lātan and Proto-Germanic *lētaną, glossed "to leave behind, allow", with a Proto-Indo-European root *leh₁d- meaning to be tired or to leave. Dutch laten, German lassen, Swedish låta and Gothic lētan are relatives.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts

Meanings 6, 11–13

From Middle English letten ("to hinder, delay"), from Old English lettan, literally "to make late," from Proto-West Germanic *lattjan and Proto-Germanic *latjaną. It is connected to Old English læt ("late").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts