bear with

British

verb

(intr, preposition) to be patient with

bear with me while I tell you my story

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

bear with Idioms

Put up with, make allowance for, as in He'll just have to bear with them until they decide. Nicholas Udall used this term in Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1553): “The heart of a man should more honour win by bearing with a woman.” It may also be used as an imperative, as in Bear with me—I'm getting to the point.

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.

"To do it alongside the formidable Emma Willis and the utterly brilliant Josh Widdicombe makes it even more special. I'm ready - sequins, nerves, and all...please bear with me. Love Jojo."

From BBC • May 19, 2026

What if, and bear with me here, the wild gyrations in gold and silver prices are actually telling us something?

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 1, 2026

We may be a little rusty, so bear with us.

From Slate • Jan. 10, 2026

The fake videos included one in which an old woman fed apples to a bear, and another in which an unarmed high school student fended off a bear with her bare hands.

From Barron's • Nov. 27, 2025

He tumbled through the air and crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful “Ummphh!”

From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan

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