brunt

[bruhnt]

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

brunt

/ brʌnt /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of brunt¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of brunt¹

C14: of unknown origin

Idioms and Phrases

see bear the brunt.

Example Sentences

"Saint Elizabeth is the breadbasket of the country, and that has taken a beating. The entire Jamaica has felt the brunt of Melissa."

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But few photographs better sum up the growing impact of Russia's full-scale invasion on everyday life, with Ukraine's most vulnerable now bearing the brunt, including children.

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Aleppo province and the Damascus countryside, major rebel strongholds subjected to heavy bombardment during the early years of the war, bore the brunt of the most of the destruction.

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King Lear, bearing the brunt of a storm, looks at what he thinks is a mad beggar and wonders if “unaccommodated man” is no more than “a poor, bare, forked animal.”

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More than 20,000 people have been killed in Nigeria, but Mali and Burkina Faso have borne the brunt, accounting for 56 percent of the region's victims.

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