Let up means to ease off or weaken: people say it about rain, wind, pain, pressure at work. About a person, it means to ease the pace and give yourself or others a break. It's often used in the negative: He never lets up, he doesn't slow down for a minute.
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rain/wind/pain/pressure + lets up; not let up; let up on + person
- The rain finally let up around six, so we walked to the station.
- My headache didn't let up until I had something to eat.
- Our coach never lets up, even in the last ten minutes of training.
What changed
First versionLet's wait in the café until the rain lets down.
RevisionLet's wait in the café until the rain lets up.
Let down means to disappoint: My friend let me down. People don't say it about weather, so the sentence makes no sense, as if the rain were going to disappoint someone. The mistake is prompted by calm down and slow down, where down really does show a decrease. With let, the particle is up: the rain lets up.
Let up is softer than stop: rain can ease off without ending. The rain let up a little means it eased a bit; you can't say stopped a little. And let up on + person means to go easier on them: Let up on him, it's his first week.
Your turn
We've been driving through heavy snow for three hours, and it still hasn't ___.
Show the answer
let up — It's about snow that just won't ease off, so you need let up. Let down means “disappoint”, and people don't say it about weather.
Describe a day when the weather or a long stretch of hard work got in your way. Say what wouldn't ease off and what you did when things got better.
The wind didn't let up all morning, but when it finally let up after lunch, we went sailing.
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