put on; putting on; puts on
1
2
: to cause to act or operate : apply
put on more speed
3
a
: add
put on weight
b
5
a
: to mislead deliberately especially for amusement
the interviewer … must be put down—or possibly, put on—
Melvin Maddocks
Melvin Maddocks
b
: kid entry 3 sense 1
you're putting me on
Synonyms
Adjective
- affected
- artificial
- assumed
- bogus
- contrived
- factitious
- fake
- false
- feigned
- forced
- mechanical
- mock
- phony
- phoney
- plastic
- pretended
- pseudo
- sham
- simulated
- spurious
- strained
- unnatural
Noun
- act
- airs
- charade
- disguise
- facade
- façade
- front
- guise
- masquerade
- playacting
- pose
- pretense
- pretence
- semblance
- show
Verb
Examples of put-on in a Sentence
Adjective
a put-on goofy voice
Noun
my bravery was all a put-on—I was scared out of my wits
for a moment, I couldn't tell if the commercial was serious or a deadpan put-on of ads by other insurance companies
Verb
I put on a coat and shoes to go outside.
some critics are putting it on when they say it's the best comedy ever made
Recent Examples on the WebOwen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 May 2024
As Patrick lopes through the film intruding into people’s space with his strength and his shameless habit of stealing their snacks (and dropping his shorts), Guadagnino over-indulges in close-ups of O’Connor scrunching up his mouth in a put-on smirk.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2024
The fighter, a scrawny guy whose swagger looks put-on, hides his face in a monkey mask.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2024
Fry, meanwhile, offers contrastingly shaggy warmth, though the obvious put-on of his ripe Polish accent makes his casting more a distraction than a coup in a story so pointedly about heritage and personal truth.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 17 Feb. 2024
In body-swap comedies, the acting is its own kind of brazen put-on fun.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 2 Dec. 2023
Temple definitely comes closest to caricature of the three leads, but the show is aware of this, and eventually establishes a reason why the accent and a lot of Dot’s personality seems like a put-on.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 21 Nov. 2023
More importantly, the movies are mostly devoid of an outsider’s gaze, although some of Montañez (Jesse Garcia)’s quippy voiceovers feel like a put-on for the benefit of gringos.
—Rebecca Sun, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
What is behind it, however, is both method and mischief, and a perpetual Mad magazine sense of put-on.
—Stephen Birmingham, Town & Country, 10 Aug. 2023
Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 23 May 2024
Users can also put on a child lock and set a timer.
—Leonora Epstein, Peoplemag, 22 May 2024
That day, Raziq put on Western-style clothes: a dress shirt and slacks.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
In 2021, Chauvin was put on trial and convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 22 May 2024
After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner capsule was set to take off early this month with two astronauts aboard — and now the flight to the International Space Station has been put on hold indefinitely following a series of setbacks.
—Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2024
Wauwatosa schools put Myers on a performance plan On Sept. 8, 2023, Myers — who likes to tout her education credentials — was put on a Performance Improvement Plan by school officials just a year into her job.
—Daniel Bice, Journal Sentinel, 20 May 2024
Once the dog was stable at the university’s veterinary hospital, he was transferred to the Northern Colorado Humane Society where he was put on a five-day stray hold to give any potential owners time to claim the dog — who the rescue had started calling Chance, the rescue group said.
—Brooke Baitinger, Idaho Statesman, 20 May 2024
The Kansas City resident threw footballs to win a hair regrowth foam, one of the many activities put on by the festival’s sponsors.
—Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 19 May 2024
Adjective
While broadly based in reality, the entire movie is a put-on, a wackazoid tall tale, a comedy that uses the breakfast wars as the jumping-off point for a high-camp exercise in nostalgic lunacy.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 May 2024
As Patrick lopes through the film intruding into people’s space with his strength and his shameless habit of stealing their snacks (and dropping his shorts), Guadagnino over-indulges in close-ups of O’Connor scrunching up his mouth in a put-on smirk.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2024
The fighter, a scrawny guy whose swagger looks put-on, hides his face in a monkey mask.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2024
Fry, meanwhile, offers contrastingly shaggy warmth, though the obvious put-on of his ripe Polish accent makes his casting more a distraction than a coup in a story so pointedly about heritage and personal truth.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 17 Feb. 2024
In body-swap comedies, the acting is its own kind of brazen put-on fun.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 2 Dec. 2023
Temple definitely comes closest to caricature of the three leads, but the show is aware of this, and eventually establishes a reason why the accent and a lot of Dot’s personality seems like a put-on.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 21 Nov. 2023
More importantly, the movies are mostly devoid of an outsider’s gaze, although some of Montañez (Jesse Garcia)’s quippy voiceovers feel like a put-on for the benefit of gringos.
—Rebecca Sun, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
What is behind it, however, is both method and mischief, and a perpetual Mad magazine sense of put-on.
—Stephen Birmingham, Town & Country, 10 Aug. 2023
Verb
Modern-day soldiers put on a replica of the Dendra armor and went through the simulation.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 23 May 2024
Users can also put on a child lock and set a timer.
—Leonora Epstein, Peoplemag, 22 May 2024
That day, Raziq put on Western-style clothes: a dress shirt and slacks.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
In 2021, Chauvin was put on trial and convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 22 May 2024
After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner capsule was set to take off early this month with two astronauts aboard — and now the flight to the International Space Station has been put on hold indefinitely following a series of setbacks.
—Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2024
Wauwatosa schools put Myers on a performance plan On Sept. 8, 2023, Myers — who likes to tout her education credentials — was put on a Performance Improvement Plan by school officials just a year into her job.
—Daniel Bice, Journal Sentinel, 20 May 2024
Once the dog was stable at the university’s veterinary hospital, he was transferred to the Northern Colorado Humane Society where he was put on a five-day stray hold to give any potential owners time to claim the dog — who the rescue had started calling Chance, the rescue group said.
—Brooke Baitinger, Idaho Statesman, 20 May 2024
The Kansas City resident threw footballs to win a hair regrowth foam, one of the many activities put on by the festival’s sponsors.
—Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 19 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'put-on.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near put-on
Cite this Entry
“Put-on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/put-on. Accessed 29 May. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share