# let down

Pronunciation: US/UK say "let-DOWN" /ˌlɛt ˈdaʊn/; AUS

## Phrasal verb

1. To disappoint someone, or to fail or betray them when they were counting on you.
   - Simple: To disappoint someone by not doing what they hoped or trusted you to do.
   - _The airline has let down thousands of travelers with its last-minute cancellations._
   - _I promised to help her move, and I'm not going to let her down._
3. To allow something to move downward, or to lower it.
   - Simple: To allow something to go down, or to lower it.
   - _The crew let down the lifeboat into the choppy water._
   - _Climbers on the ledge let a rope down to the injured hiker._
4. To make a piece of clothing longer by undoing the hem and sewing it again lower down.
   - Simple: To make clothes longer by opening the bottom edge and sewing it again.
   - _The tailor let down both sleeves of the jacket by half an inch._
   - _There was enough fabric in the hem to let the dress down for another year._
6. To ease off and put in less effort than before.
   - Simple: To stop trying as hard as before.
   - _The coach warned his players not to let down after their early lead._
   - _Some students let down once midterms are over, and their grades start to slip._
7. To thin a sauce, soup, or similar mixture by adding liquid to it.
   - Simple: To make a sauce or soup thinner by adding some liquid.
   - _Let the risotto down with a ladle of hot stock just before serving._
   - _She let down the mayonnaise with a little lemon juice so it would drizzle._
8. To soften a hardened metal object, such as a tool or blade, in the course of tempering it.
   - Simple: To make a hard metal tool or knife softer by treating it with heat.
   - _After hardening the springs, the smith let them down to a blue temper._
   - _Knife makers let down the edge only slightly, keeping it hard enough to hold its sharpness._

## Noun · let-down

Pronunciation: say "LET-down" /ˈlɛtˌdaʊn/

2. A disappointment, or an anticlimax that falls short of what was expected.
   - Simple: Something that is not as good as you hoped.
   - _After weeks of buildup, the final episode was a let-down for most fans._
   - _The hotel's famous view turned out to be something of a let-down._
5. The release of milk from the breast or udder, triggered by nerves and hormones, in nursing mothers or dairy cows.
   - Simple: The moment milk starts to flow from a mother's breast or a cow's udder.
   - _Stress can delay let-down, so lactation consultants encourage mothers to relax before feeding._
   - _Dairy farmers wash and massage the udder before milking to stimulate let-down._
9. Permission for an aircraft to descend through cloud to clear air below, or the process of giving that permission.
   - Simple: Permission for a plane to fly down through clouds into clear air below.
   - _With the airfield hidden under cloud, the crew requested a radar let-down from approach control._
   - _Controllers handled the let-downs one aircraft at a time while the weather stayed poor._

## Origin

Formed from the verb let down.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/let-down (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).