From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishput something down to something phrasal verb1 EXPLAINto think that something is caused by something else I was having difficulty reading, which I put down to the poor light.2 put it down to experienceRESULT to try not to feel too upset about failure, especially when you learn something useful from it Everyone gets rejected from time to time; put it down to experience. → put→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
put down to • Yevdoxia put it down to Chernobyl.• McBride can put his luck down to criticism from scribes down south earlier in the season, rather than bad selection policy.• I put it down to his upbringing.• McGeechan puts that down to identifying the likely lads early and raising their sights to higher planes.• They put it down to indecision and the overwhelming charms of both suitors.• For all Luke Hunter knew, she might have put his gesture down to quite another source.• Again I put it down to the stresses of presenting a live programme five days a week. 