phrasal verb (idiom) · informal
put your foot down
UK/pʊt jɔː ˈfʊt daʊn/US/pʊt jʊr ˈfʊt daʊn/put·your·FOOT·down
to be firm and strict in order to stop unwanted behaviour
Examples
“When the students kept arriving late, the principal had to put her foot down.”
“As a parent sometimes you have to put your foot down and say no.”
“I finally put my foot down about the unpaid bills.”
Band 8 sentence
“When the team repeatedly missed deadlines, the project manager put her foot down and introduced weekly checks to get things back on track.”
Collocations
- put someone’s foot down
- have/need to put your foot down
Word family
Common mistakes
put the foot down→put your foot down
put foot down→put your foot down
Say it for a higher band
5be strict→6be firm→7+put your foot down
Synonyms
be firm
take a firm line
Easily confused
put someone on the spot
“During the interview he was put on the spot when asked about his salary expectations.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In put …
Learn it with its set