calm down

Meaning

This phrasal verb means to stop feeling angry, upset, excited, or nervous, or to cause someone else to do so. It describes returning to a peaceful state of mind. Note that telling an angry person to 'calm down' directly can sometimes make them feel more frustrated.

Examples

• You need to calm down before you make any important decisions.

  You need to calm down before you make any important decisions.

• The mother tried to calm down her crying baby with a lullaby.

  The mother tried to calm down her crying baby with a lullaby.

• After a long run, my heart rate finally began to calm down.

  After a long run, my heart rate finally began to calm down.

• Please calm down and tell me exactly what happened.

  Please calm down and tell me exactly what happened.

• Taking deep breaths is a great way to calm down when you feel anxious.

  Taking deep breaths is a great way to calm down when you feel anxious.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ He needs to calm himself down.

  ✓ He needs to calm down.

  While grammatically possible, native speakers almost always use 'calm down' as an intransitive verb without a reflexive pronoun like 'himself'.

• ✗ She calmed down her angry.

  ✓ She calmed down her angry friend.

  'Calm down' requires a person or animal as an object, not an adjective or emotion. You calm a person down, you do not calm down an emotion.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Just take a deep breath and ___.

  💡 Relax and stop worrying.

  Show answer

  calm down

• It took him an hour to ___ after the argument.

  💡 Become peaceful again.

  Show answer

  calm down