put-on

[ noun poot-on, -awn; adjective poot-on, -awn ]
See synonyms for put-on on Thesaurus.com
nounInformal.
  1. an act or instance of putting someone on.

  2. a prank or pretense, especially one perpetrated or assumed in mock seriousness; hoax; spoof.

  1. affected manner or behavior; pretentiousness.

adjective
  1. assumed, feigned, pretended, or disguised: a put-on manner that didn't fool anyone.

Origin of put-on

1
1855–60; adj., noun use of verb phrase put (someone) on

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use put-on in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for put on

put on

verb(tr, mainly adverb)
  1. to clothe oneself in: to put on a coat

  2. (usually passive) to adopt (an attitude or feeling) insincerely: his misery was just put on

  1. to present or stage (a play, show, etc)

  2. to increase or add: she put on weight; the batsman put on fifty runs before lunch

  3. to cause (an electrical device) to function

  4. (also preposition) to wager (money) on a horse race, game, etc: he put ten pounds on the favourite

  5. (also preposition) to impose as a burden or levy: to put a tax on cars

  6. cricket to cause (a bowler) to bowl

  7. put someone on

    • to connect (a person) by telephone

    • slang to mock or tease

nounput-on slang, mainly US and Canadian
  1. a hoax or piece of mockery

  2. an affected manner or mode of behaviour

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with put-on

put-on

Clothe oneself with, as in I put on my socks. [Mid-1400s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.