brace

American  

[breys] / breɪs /

noun

braces plural

1. something that holds parts together or in place, as a clasp or clamp.

   Synonyms:

   vise

2. anything that imparts rigidity or steadiness.

3. Building Trades. a piece of timber, metal, etc., for supporting or positioning another piece or portion of a framework.

   Synonyms:

   strut, prop, stay

4. Orthodontics. Usually braces an appliance made of metal or plastic, worn on the surface of the teeth to straighten them through gradual pressure: The patient needed a brace only on the upper teeth.

   I wore braces for several years.

   The patient needed a brace only on the upper teeth.

5. Medicine/Medical. an appliance or compression sleeve for supporting a weak joint or joints.

6. Printing. curly bracket.

7. Music. connected staves one below the other, such as for different voices or instruments, or for left and right hand in keyboard music.

8. Chiefly British. braces suspenders.

9. a pair; couple.

   The hunter had a brace of hounds at his side.

10. Also called bitbrace, bitstock.  Machinery. a device for holding and turning a bit for boring or drilling.

11. Music. leather loops sliding upon the tightening cords of a drum to change their tension and the drum's pitch.

12. Nautical. (on a square-rigged ship) a rope by which a yard is swung about and secured horizontally.

13. a protective band covering the wrist or lower part of the arm, especially one worn in archery to protect the bow hand from the snap of the bowstring.

14. Military. a position of attention with exaggeratedly stiff posture.

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verb (used with object)

braces, present (3rd person singular) braced, past participle, past bracing present participle

1. to furnish, fasten, or strengthen with or as if with a brace.

   Synonyms:

   prop, fortify, support

2. to fix firmly; make steady; secure against pressure or impact.

   He braces himself when the ship rolls. Brace yourself for some bad news.

3. to make tight; increase the tension of.

   Synonyms:

   tense, tauten

4. to act as a stimulant to.

   Synonyms:

   fortify

5. Nautical. to swing or turn around (the yards of a ship) by means of the braces.

6. Military. to order (a subordinate) to assume and maintain a position of attention with exaggeratedly stiff posture.

verb (used without object)

braces, present (3rd person singular) braced, past participle, past bracing present participle

1. Military. to assume a position of attention with exaggeratedly stiff posture.

verb phrase

1. brace in to brace (the yards of a square-rigged vessel) more nearly athwartships, as for running free.

idioms

1. brace up, to summon up one's courage; become resolute.

   She choked back her tears and braced up.

brace British  

/ breɪs /

noun

1. In full: hand brace.  a hand tool for drilling holes, with a socket to hold the drill at one end and a cranked handle by which the tool can be turned See also brace and bit

2. something that steadies, binds, or holds up another thing

3. a structural member, such as a beam or prop, used to stiffen a framework

4. a sliding loop, usually of leather, attached to the cords of a drum: used to change its tension

5. a pair; two, esp of game birds

   a brace of partridges

6. either of a pair of characters, { }, used for connecting lines of printing or writing or as a third sign of aggregation in complex mathematical or logical expressions that already contain parentheses and square brackets

7. Also called: accolade.  a line or bracket connecting two or more staves of music

8. (often plural) an appliance of metal bands and wires that can be tightened to maintain steady pressure on the teeth for correcting uneven alignment

9. med any of various appliances for supporting the trunk, a limb, or teeth

10. another word for bracer 2

11. (in square-rigged sailing ships) a rope that controls the movement of a yard and thus the position of a sail

12. See braces

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verb

1. to provide, strengthen, or fit with a brace

2. to steady or prepare (oneself or something) as before an impact

3. (also intr) to stimulate; freshen; invigorate

   sea air is bracing

4. to control the horizontal movement of (the yards of a square-rigged sailing ship)

Synonym Usage

See pair.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underbrace
  noun
• overbrace
  verb (used with object)
• rebrace
  verb (used with object)
• underbrace
  verb (used with object)
• well-braced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• braces
  plural

Participles

• bracing
  present
• braced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• brace
  simple
• braces
  simple
• have braced
  perfect
• has braced
  perfect
• am bracing
  progressive
• are bracing
  progressive
• is bracing
  progressive
• have been bracing
  perfect progressive
• has been bracing
  perfect progressive

Past

• braced
  simple
• had braced
  perfect
• was bracing
  progressive
• were bracing
  progressive
• had been bracing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will brace
  simple
• will have braced
  perfect
• will be bracing
  progressive
• will have been bracing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of brace

First recorded in 1300–50; (for the noun) Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French: “pair of arms,” from Latin brā(c)chia plural (taken as feminine singular) of brā(c)chium “arm” (from Greek; see brachium); (for the verb) in part Middle English bracen (from Anglo-French bracier, derivative of brace; cf. embrace ¹), in part derivative of the noun

Explanation

A brace is a support that helps to steady or strengthen, and to brace is to prepare for something hard. So brace yourself for that impromptu meeting with your boss if you haven't been performing well. We all know the braces that straighten teeth and keep injured knees in line. But in verb form, brace means to bolster or steady. “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather,” said John Ruskin, the English writer and cultural critic. He means the wind supports us with its uplifting powers — although those living in tornado country might disagree.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brace braces braced bracing

Both players came to England's rescue when it was needed most - Kane's brace against DR Congo preventing a humiliating round of 32 exit, and Bellingham's double against Norway sealing their place in the semi-finals.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

As consumers brace for higher electronics prices, Apple’s pricing power is putting the company on track for an earnings boost amid a global memory crunch.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

Not everyone cares for authenticity in the timbre of a narrator’s voice, and so we must brace for an expanding market of stories told by artificial intelligence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

As he was wheeled away to a waiting ambulance, Gil wore an oxygen mask and neck brace, and his face showed bruising.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026

Each rod had a threaded end that narrowed to a point, and the other end was shaped to fit into a carpenter’s brace.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

After opening with a scoreless draw against Cape Verde, the reigning European champions have scored eight goals in the past three games, with Mikel Oyarzabal notching a pair of braces.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

As Britain braces itself for another hot week, experts are warning that many fridges in UK homes and supermarkets are unable to cope with the sort of record-breaking temperatures we have been experiencing.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Many men are in what has become a kind of Canon Français uniform of berets and braces.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

For some participants, one of the most appealing parts of the approach was that it did not require pills, surgery, braces, or a device worn all day.

From Science Daily ● May 22, 2026

Doug got the triple whammy: glasses, braces, pimples.

From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers

U.S. stocks were little changed Wednesday as oil prices extended gains, while investors braced for a wave of major earnings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Jefferies equities trading analyst Jeffrey Favuzza said he believed investors were focused on whether IBM’s preliminary results are “a harbinger of what we are braced for” with ServiceNow’s and SAP’s results set for next week.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

Now, she is braced for the likelihood of higher premiums in 2027, though it isn’t clear how much they will rise.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

News of the death toll comes with parts of Europe, including the UK, braced for more searing temperatures from this weekend.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Aru braced herself, waiting to hear the usual lines that they couldn’t possibly be heroes, or that they were too weak, too young, or too...girly.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

Investors aren’t bracing for some shocking development that would cause a market swoon, but they’re unusually concerned about some specific stocks and sectors, according to Citadel Securities strategist Scott Rubner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Mr. Simms, a historian at the University of Cambridge, is no sentimentalist, and the tone of his book emanates a bracing realism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

For months, policymakers, businesses and trade watchers in Washington had been bracing for a turbulent spring and summer around the future of the USMCA, the trade pact binding the United States, Canada and Mexico.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's official wedding plans are tightly under wraps, but New York is bracing to host the celebrity marriage of the year this week at Madison Square Garden.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

I go downstairs to tell Mom and Dad, bracing for the worst—but they don’t get angry.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Related Words

• fortify
• gird
• prepare
• ready