bear the brunt

1. Put up with the worst of some bad circumstance, as in It was the secretary who had to bear the brunt of the doctor's anger. This idiom uses brunt in the sense of “the main force of an enemy's attack,” which was sustained by the front lines of the defenders. [Second half of 1700s]

Example Sentences

In 2020 the National Audit Office warned that without preparation for contract end "there is a significant risk that vital infrastructure such as schools and hospitals will not be returned to the public sector in the right condition and taxpayers and service users will bear the brunt of additional costs".

Read more on BBC

At a press conference to unveil Reform's plans, policy chief Zia Yusuf argued the party's blueprint would lessen the need for tax hikes by making foreign nationals "bear the brunt" before British citizens were asked to "make sacrifices".

Read more on BBC

Nationwide, workers of color, particularly Black women, bear the brunt of job losses in 2025.

Read more on Salon

It may now be the white-collar sector’s turn to bear the brunt of economic dislocation.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

However, large parts of northern and western France were forecast to bear the brunt of the severe weather, prompting Météo France - the equivalent of the Met Office - to name this Storm Benjamin, warning of some damage and travel disruption.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• brave 
• encounter 
• experience 
• face 
• feel 
• go through 
• know 
• ride out 
• suffer 
• sustain 
• tolerate 
• undergo 
• weather 
• withstand