let down — disappoint (Murphy Unit 142, Phrasal verbs up/down)

Pattern

let + someone + down = disappoint / fail someone who relies on you.

• I felt that I had let down the other players. (disappointed them)
• Don’t let me down! (don’t disappoint me)
• She never lets her friends down.
• I won’t let the team down.

Split phrasal verb

let down is separable — the object goes in the middle:

• let the other players down ✓
• let them down ✓ (pronoun MUST split)
• let down them ✗

The “down” family (don’t confuse)

Phrasal	Meaning	Example
let down	disappoint / fail	I let the team down.
take down	dismantle / remove / record	They took down the poster.
put down	place / criticize / euthanize	He put down his bag. / She put him down.
turn down	reject / reduce	She turned down the offer.

Test application

I didn’t play very well. I felt that I had ___ the other players in the team.

Answer: let down — disappointed the teammates who relied on me.

Why not the others?

• taken down — dismantled/removed, wrong meaning
• put down — placed/criticized, wrong meaning
• let down ✓ — disappoint

Source

Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use (4th ed.), Unit 142 — Phrasal verbs up/down. Ebot lesson 2026-08-29: “I felt that I had ___ the other players” → let down (disappoint).