put someone in their place

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

put someone in their place

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To remind someone of his position.
2. (idiomatic) To bring somebody down; to humble or rebuke.

   His quips at the party aimed to put the CEO in his place.

   • 2014 Nov. 18, Daniel Taylor, "England and Wayne Rooney see off Scotland in their own back yard," The Guardian:

     The response, culminating in Rooney finishing off a slick exchange of incisive, pass-them-to-death football, quickly put Scotland back in their place.

Translations

to remind someone of his position

• German: in seine Schranken weisen, zurechtweisen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to humble or rebuke

• Finnish: näyttää jollekin paikkansa
• French: remettre à sa place (fr)
• German: runterputzen, vorführen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: поста́вить на ме́сто (postávitʹ na mésto)
• Spanish: poner a alguien en su lugar
• Swedish: sätta någon på plats

See also

• cut down to size
• pull down a peg

Further reading

• “put sb in their place”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “put someone in their place”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “put somebody in their place” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.