Word.ws English Dictionary

put it past

put it past verb: to consider it not possible for (someone) (to do something).

Verb

put it past (third-person singular simple present puts it past, present participle putting it past, simple past and past participle put it past)

  1. (idiomatic) To consider it not possible for (someone) (to do something).
    • I wouldn't put it past him to spread malicious gossip about you.
    • I wouldn't put it past her to steal from shops, but I would put it past her to steal from her own mother.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see put, it, past.
    • He smashed the ball with his left foot and put it past the goalkeeper.

Forms of put it past

third-person singular presentputs it past
present participleputting it past
past participleput it past
pastput it past

Origin of put it past

From put past with placeholder it.

Questions about put it past

What does put it past mean?
Put it past means to consider it not possible for (someone) (to do something).
What part of speech is put it past?
Put it past is a verb.
What is the past tense of put it past?
The past tense of put it past is put it past.

Words near put it past in the dictionary

  1. put into words
  2. put it about
  3. put it down
  4. put it mildly
  5. put it off on
  6. put it past
  7. put it there
  8. put it to
  9. put lie to
  10. put lipstick on a pig
  11. put new wine in old bottles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: put it past (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-put it past.ogg.

Cite this entry: “put it past.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/put_it_past. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.