What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Get vs Let - What's the difference?

get | let |

In transitive terms the difference between get and let

is that get is to getter while let is Used to introduce an imperative in the first or third person.

In archaic terms the difference between get and let

is that get is to learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out while let is to hinder, prevent; to obstruct (someone or something).

get

English

(wikipedia get)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) geten, from (etyl) 'to seize'. Cognate with Latin prehendo.

Verb

  • (label) To obtain; to acquire.
  • (label) To receive.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.}}
  • To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get .
  • (label) To become.
  • * (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
  • His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.}}
  • (label) To cause to become; to bring about.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}
  • (label) To fetch, bring, take.
  • * Bible, (w) xxxi. 13
  • Get thee out from this land.
  • * (Richard Knolles) (1545-1610)
  • Heto the strong town of Mega.
  • (label) To cause to do.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Get him to say his prayers.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
  • , chapter=5, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.”}}
  • To adopt, assume, arrive at, or progress towards (a certain position, location, state).
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • to get rid of fools and scoundrels
  • (label) To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.
  • to get a mile
  • (label) To cause to come or go or move.
  • (label) To cause to be in a certain status or position.
  • * (Dante Gabriel Rossetti), Retro me, Sathana , line 1
  • Get thee behind me.
  • (label) To begin (doing something).
  • (label) To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).
  • (label) To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).
  • To be able, permitted (to do something); to have the opportunity (to do something).
  • To be subjected to.
  • * '>citation
  • Do you mind? Excuse me / I saw you over there / Can I just tell you ¶ Although there are millions of / Cephalophores that wander through this world / You've got something extra going on / I think you probably know ¶ You probably get that a lot / I'll bet that people say that a lot to you, girl
  • (label) To be.
  • *
  • (label) To become ill with or catch (a disease).
  • To catch out, trick successfully.
  • To perplex, stump.
  • (label) To find as an answer.
  • To bring to reckoning; to catch (as a criminal); to effect retribution.
  • (label) To hear completely; catch.
  • (label) To .
  • To beget (of a father).
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
  • * 2009 , (Hilary Mantel), (Wolf Hall) , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 310:
  • Walter had said, dear God, Thomas, it was St fucking Felicity if I'm not mistaken, and her face was to the wall for sure the night I got you.
  • (label) To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out .
  • * (1625-1686)
  • it being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty
  • Used with a personal pronoun to indicate that someone is being pretentious or grandiose.
  • *2007 , Tom Dyckhoff, Let's move to ..., The Guardian :
  • Money's pouring in somewhere, because Churchgate's got lovely new stone setts, and a cultural quarter (ooh, get her) is promised.
    Usage notes
    In dialects featuring the past participle gotten, the form "gotten" is not used universally as the past participle. Rather, inchoative and concessive uses (with meanings such as "obtain" or "become", or "am permitted to") use "gotten" as their past participle, whereas stative uses (with meanings like "have") use "got" as their past participle http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html] and [http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/gotten.htm http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/gotten.htm, thus enabling users of "gotten"-enabled dialects to make distinctions such as "I've gotten (received) my marks" vs. "I've got (possess) my marks"; a subtle distinction, to be sure, but a useful one. The first example probably means that the person has received them, and has them somewhere, whereas the second probably means that they have them in their hand right now.
    Synonyms
    * (obtain) acquire, come by, have * (receive) receive, be given * (fetch) bring, fetch, retrieve * (become) become * (cause to become) cause to be, cause to become, make * (cause to do) make * (arrive) arrive at, reach * come, go, travel * : go, move * (begin) begin, commence, start * : catch, take * : answer * be able to * dig, follow, make sense of, understand * : be * : catch, come down with * con, deceive, dupe, hoodwink, trick * confuse, perplex, stump * (find as an answer) obtain * : catch, nab, nobble * (physically assault) assault, beat, beat up * catch, hear * (getter) getter
    Antonyms
    * (obtain) lose
    Derived terms
    * beget * forget * from the get-go * get about * get a charge out of * get across * get across to * get action * get after * get ahead of oneself * get a look in * get along * get along with * get around * get around to * get at * get away * get away from * get away with * get back * get back to * get behind * get better * get beyond * get by * get carried away * get done * get down * get going * get in * get in with * get into * get into trouble * get it * get it across one's head * get it into one's head * get it on * get it over with * get knotted * get lost * get moving * get off * get off easy * get off lightly * get off with * get on * get one over on * get one's end away * get one's rocks off * get on in years * get on to * get on with * get out * get out of * get over * get-rich-quick * get round * get round to * get some air * get someone's goat * get stuffed * get the goods on * get there * get the time to * get through * get through to * get to * get to be * get together * get under * get up * get up in * get up to * get well soon * get with the program, get with the programme * go-getter * go-getting * got * have got

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Offspring.
  • * 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 755:
  • ‘You were a high lord's get . Don't tell me Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell never killed a man.’
  • Lineage.
  • (sports, tennis) A difficult return or block of a shot.
  • Something gained.
  • * 2008 , Karen Yampolsky, Falling Out of Fashion (page 73)
  • I had reconnected with the lust of my life while landing a big get for the magazine.

    Etymology 2

    Variant of

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British, regional) A git .
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (Judaism) A Jewish writ of divorce.
  • Statistics

    *

    let

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) leten, .

    Verb

  • (label) To allow to, not to prevent (+ infinitive, but usually without (to)).
  • :
  • *(Bible), (w) viii. 28
  • *:Pharaoh said, I will let you go.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:If your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is
  • *1971 , , (The Tombs of Atuan)
  • *:He could not be let die of thirst there alone in the dark.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",
  • To leave.
  • :
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:Yet neither spins nor cards, ne cares nor frets, / But to her mother Nature all her care she lets .
  • (label) To allow the release of (a fluid).
  • :
  • (label) To allow possession of (a property etc.) in exchange for rent.
  • :
  • (label) To give, grant, or assign, as a work, privilege, or contract; often with out .
  • :
  • (label)
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • To cause (+ bare infinitive).
  • :
  • *:
  • Soo within a whyle kynge Pellinore cam with a grete hoost / and salewed the peple and the kyng / and ther was grete ioye made on euery syde / Thenne the kyng lete serche how moche people of his party ther was slayne / And ther were founde but lytel past two honderd men slayne and viij kny?tes of the table round in their pauelions
  • *1818 , (John Keats), "To—":
  • *:Time's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb, / Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand.
  • Synonyms
    * (to allow) allow, permit
    Usage notes
    The use of "let" to introduce an imperative may sometimes be confused with its use, as its own imperative , in the sense of "to allow". For example, the sentence "Let me go to the store." could either be a second-person imperative of "let" (addressing someone who might prevent the speaker from going to the store) or a first-person singular imperative of "go" (not implying any such preventer).

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) . More at late, delay.

    Verb

  • (archaic) To hinder, prevent; to obstruct (someone or something).
  • * Bible, 2. Thessalonians ii. 7
  • He who now letteth' will ' let , until he be taken out of the way.
  • * Tennyson
  • Mine ancient wound is hardly whole, / And lets me from the saddle.
  • (obsolete) To prevent or obstruct (to) do something, or (that) something happen.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts VIII:
  • And as they went on their waye, they cam unto a certayne water, and the gelded man sayde: Se here is water, what shall lett me to be baptised?

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An obstacle or hindrance.
  • *, II.16:
  • *:Paulus Emilius'' going to the glorious expedition of ''Macedon'', advertised the people of ''Rome'' during his absence not to speake of his actions: ''For the licence of judgements is an especiall let in great affaires.
  • *Latimer
  • *:Consider whether your doings be to the let of your salvation or not.
  • (tennis) The hindrance caused by the net during serve, only if the ball falls legally.
  • Statistics

    *