What does "put up with" mean?

To tolerate or endure something unpleasant without complaint, or at least without leaving. The phrase always carries a sense of reluctance. When you put up with something, you accept it even though you would rather not.

"I've been putting up with this noise for months."
"How do you put up with him?"
"There's only so much I can put up with."
"She puts up with a lot from her difficult boss."
"We had to put up with the rain for the whole holiday."

Notice how the phrase works for both people and situations. You can put up with a noisy neighbour, a long commute, a bad phone signal, or an annoying colleague. In every case, there is something you dislike but continue to accept.

The person is not happy about the situation. "Put up with" is stronger than "tolerate", it implies active endurance, as if you're holding something up that keeps pressing down on you. There is often quiet frustration behind it, and sometimes the sense that patience is running out.

In the workplace, "put up with" tends to sound diplomatic, a way of describing difficulty without openly complaining. "We've all had to put up with the new system for now." In casual conversation it can be more emotional and personal. "I don't know how you put up with your flatmate." The phrase is common and natural in both British and American English, with no real difference in meaning.

With phrasal verbs like this, the preposition must stay with the verb. You cannot separate them. The object always comes after the whole phrase.

"put up with the noise" ✓
"put the noise up with" ✗
"What I won't put up with" ✓

This is because "put up with" is a three-part phrasal verb, and the three parts move together as a unit.

Many learners forget to keep all three words together and say something like "I can't put up it with" or "I won't put up my neighbour with." The object goes at the very end, after "with". Say "I can't put up with it" and "I won't put up with my neighbour."

Another frequent error is dropping "with" entirely, as in "I can't put up this." This does not work in English. The complete phrase is always "put up with".

Imagine holding a heavy weight above your head with both arms. It is uncomfortable, your arms are tired, but you keep holding it up. That is exactly what "put up with" feels like. You are keeping something unpleasant up in the air rather than letting it drop. Picturing that pressing weight helps you remember both the meaning and the sense of reluctance.

• "I can't stand it", stronger, more emotional
• "It's getting to me", softer
• "I've had enough", signals breaking point
• "I'll grin and bear it", a related expression meaning to accept something unpleasant without complaining, often with forced good humour

"Put up with" is closely linked to the idea of patience, so it pairs naturally with phrases like "bite my tongue" (staying quiet to avoid an argument) and "let it slide" (choosing not to react to something annoying). If you want to say the opposite, that you refuse to accept something, you can use "draw the line" as in "I draw the line at rudeness." These expressions all live in the same everyday world of tolerance and limits, and knowing them together helps you sound more natural.

One last tip. Because "put up with" already suggests reluctance, you do not need to add words like "reluctantly" or "unhappily". The phrase carries that feeling on its own, so "I put up with it" is enough to show you are not pleased.