put down to

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

1. (idiomatic) To ascribe; to assume to be the cause of a situation.

   I put the high crime rate down to the high unemployment.

   Synonym: chalk up to

   • 1988, Michael Hopkinson, Green Against Green: The Irish Civil War:

     Collins' death can be put down to his devil-may-care attitude—his decision to journey through hostile territory in a large convoy, the inadequate choice of the members of the convoy, and the tactics he adopted in the ambush. For all the debate about ballistics and entry and exit wounds, and the use of powerful historical imaginations, it matters more that Collins was killed than how he was killed. Concentration on the events at Béal na mBláth has, moreover, often meant a failure to place them in the overall context of the war.

   • 2023 July 4, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Out in the ground, meanwhile, it was particularly disappointing to hear former England captain Andrew Strauss put the febrile atmosphere down to “people who don’t normally come to Lord’s”.