To put up with something means to tolerate an unpleasant, annoying, or difficult situation instead of stopping or avoiding it.
PUT + UP + WITH = TOLERATE?!
Three completely ordinary words. Put doesn't mean anything is being placed anywhere. Up doesn't mean anything is moving upward. With doesn't point toward "tolerate" either. And yet together, they mean exactly that.
What Does It Mean?
You put up with a noisy neighbour, a difficult coworker, or bad weather — you keep accepting it, rather than stopping it or walking away.
My sister puts up with her commute every day, even though it takes two hours.
We had to put up with the drilling next door for three weeks.
Note: put up with is a different expression from plain put up (as in put up a poster, or put up a fight) — one extra word, one completely different meaning.
Natural Examples
He's difficult sometimes, but his friends put up with it because he's genuinely kind.
I can't put up with people who are rude to waiters.
"How do you put up with this weather?" "Honestly, I don't. I just complain a lot."
Can You Separate It?
No. Put up with stays together: the object always comes after the whole phrase.
✅ I can't put up with the noise.
✅ I can't put up with it.
❌ I can't put the noise up with.
❌ I can't put it up with.
❌ I can't put up it with.
Compare this with figure out: that one can split around a pronoun (figure it out), but put up with never does (put up with it). Same-looking pattern, opposite rule — so it's worth checking each phrasal verb separately rather than guessing.
Put Up With vs. Tolerate
Put up with is the everyday, spoken version. Tolerate means almost the same thing, but sounds a little more formal or neutral — more at home in a report than in a chat with a friend.
Related Expression: Can't Stand
Can't stand something means you dislike it intensely. It's related to put up with, but not the same thing: you might put up with something you can't stand, because you don't have another choice. I can't stand my commute, but I put up with it because the job is worth it.
Common Mistakes
Where does the object go? Always after the whole phrase.
❌ I can't put it up with.
✅ I can't put up with it.
Put up with, or just put up? They're different.
❌ She put up with a poster in her room.
✅ She put up a poster in her room. (put up with means tolerate; put up alone can mean many other things)
In a Conversation
Nadia: How do you put up with your brother borrowing your stuff all the time?
Sami: Honestly? I don't always put up with it. Sometimes I just take it back.
Nadia: That's fair.
Easy Way to Remember It
Three words. One package: put up with.
Don't think of put, up and with separately — think of the whole phrase as one word that happens to be spelled with spaces.
Quick Check
- Which is correct: "I can't put it up with" or "I can't put up with it"?
- My neighbour plays loud music every night, and I just have to ______ it. (put up with / figure out)
- "She put up a poster in her room." Is this the same "put up" as in "put up with"?
Answers
- "I can't put up with it": the object always goes after the whole phrase.
- put up with: this is about tolerating something annoying, not solving a puzzle.
- No. Plain put up here just means hung up or displayed, a completely different meaning.