brunt

American  

[bruhnt] / brʌnt /

noun

1. the main force or impact, as of an attack or blow.

   His arm took the brunt of the blow.

   Synonyms:

   burden, stress, thrust

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brunt British  

/ brʌnt /

noun

1. the main force or shock of a blow, attack, etc (esp in the phrase bear the brunt of )

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brunt Idioms  

1. see bear the brunt.

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Etymology

Origin of brunt

1275–1325; Middle English; perhaps originally sexual assault; akin to Old Norse brundr, German Brunft heat, ruttish state, Old English brunetha heat, itching; cognate with Old High German bronado. See burn ¹

Example Sentences

There was, in fact, plenty of blame to go around even if Rob and Fab suffered the brunt of it.

From Los Angeles Times

Nearly 3.8 billion people could face extreme heat by 2050 and while tropical countries will bear the brunt cooler regions will also need to adapt, scientists said Monday.

From Barron's

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday that civilians were bearing the brunt of the attacks and called on Russia to stop them, accusing Moscow of having breached the "rules of warfare".

From Barron's

More than a foot of snow could be seen across the mid-Atlantic region, forecasters warned, with Virginia and Maryland likely to bear the brunt as arctic air locks in.

From Barron's

Bearing the brunt of Tuesday’s steep 2% retreat in the S&P 500 was tech, as the Magnificent 7 shed a collective $683 billion in market cap, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

From MarketWatch