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Synonyms

grin and bear it

Idioms  

  1. Put up good-humoredly with adversity, with good humor, as in It's no fun being sick for the holidays, but you might as well grin and bear it. Also put as grin and abide in the 19th century, this expression became so well known that Sam Walter Foss (1858–1911) made a pun on it in his poem, “The Firm of Grin and Barrett”: “Never yet was any panic Scared the firm of Grin and Barrett.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Grin and bear it: James Marsden, Thomas Jane, Piper Perabo and Billy Bob Thornton head "Into the Grizzly Maze" in this 2014 thriller set in the Alaskan wilderness.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2016

"Grin and bear it, old fellow," and, saying so, R—— quietly levelled his rifle, with some misgiving, for it was of Norwegian manufacture, and fired at the animal.

From A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden 2nd edition by Ross, William A.

Grin and bear it, is another good one.

From The Choctaw Freedmen and The Story of Oak Hill Industrial Academy by Flickinger, Robert Elliott

Some one having lavishly lauded Longfellow's aphorism, "Suffer, and be strong," a matter-of-fact man observed that it was merely a variation of the old English adage, "Grin, and bear it."

From The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; containing a collection of over one thousand of the most laughable sayings and jokes of celebrated wits and humorists. by Various

Grin and bear it is what you’ve got to do, and that’s discipline, and it’s minding that will help you to get on.”

From A Gallant Grenadier A Tale of the Crimean War by Brereton, F. S. (Frederick Sadleir)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.