put-downs

noun

plural of put-down
1
as in insults
an act or expression showing scorn and usually intended to hurt another's feelings new hires always have to deal with put-downs and practical jokes from the older employees

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in defamations
the act of making a person or a thing seem little or unimportant your never-ending put-down of my musical talents is really starting to annoy me

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of put-downs The series combines potty-mouthed put-downs with more sentimental story lines. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 25 June 2026 When Marilyn Walker was a little girl, her grandmother introduced her to sarcasm through genteel put-downs that sounded sweet but weren’t. — Angela Haupt, Time, 10 Mar. 2026 Watch a season of the Y2K reality juggernaut and the tone will vacillate wildly between cringe-worthy put-downs via Janice Dickinson, cringier photoshoots, feel-good runway lessons with Miss J, and body positivity monologues from Tyra Banks. — Madeline Hirsch, InStyle, 17 Feb. 2026 Crockett, a representative from a deep-blue district that includes much of Dallas, has attained fame with snappy put-downs of Republicans, many of which have gone viral on social media. — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026 Many of them are amusing enough to get chuckles and the odd big laugh but a little more wit amongst the throwaway put-downs would have been welcome. — Richard Kuipers, Variety, 26 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for put-downs
  1. insults
  2. criticisms
  3. sarcasms
  4. condemnations
  5. disparagements
  6. abuses
Noun
  • His personal insults, ranging from Adam Schiff having a pencil neck to Chris Christie’s weight to Bruce Springsteen’s aged face, also were repeats of various Truth Social posts.
    — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 25 July 2026
  • Former Sacramento Kings guard Ty Lawson allegedly hurled racial insults at police after being arrested for shoplifting.
    — Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 23 July 2026
Definition of insults
Noun
  • Some notable criticisms include their ability to efficiently convert heat back to electricity and their relatively low energy density compared to traditional batteries.
    — Sam Meredith, CNBC, 25 July 2026
  • Trump then repeated one of his go-to criticisms of the White House correspondent, while Collins listened from a table near the stage alongside her CNN colleagues.
    — Kyler Alvord, PEOPLE, 25 July 2026
Definition of criticisms
Noun
  • First seen at a night-club table of menacing lowlifes, Ida, whose mother tongue is Brooklynese, suddenly switches to a heavy British accent and dispenses a torrent of highly literary sarcasms.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
Definition of sarcasms
Noun
  • While the federal government has the power to initiate eminent domain actions – also called condemnations – most are done by state and local governments.
    — Aaron Walayat, The Conversation, 16 July 2026
  • The government’s unprecedented move this week sparked condemnations across the political and legal spectrum, sounding the alarm that Israel was becoming a country whose executive no longer felt bound by the rule of law.
    — Dina Kraft, Christian Science Monitor, 10 July 2026
Definition of condemnations
Noun
  • These disparagements cut to the core of southern manhood.
    — Rob Wolfe, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026
Definition of disparagements
Noun
  • Concerns over the country's human rights abuses and potential ambitions for nuclear weapons previously stalled this collaboration.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 23 July 2026
  • The lawsuit portrays those abuses as part of a broader campaign of political repression carried out by the country’s security apparatus.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 22 July 2026
Definition of abuses

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put down
put-downs
put forth
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Cite this Entry

“Put-downs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/put-downs. Accessed 28 Jul. 2026.

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