bring down
Britishverb
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to cause to fall
the fighter aircraft brought the enemy down
the ministers agreed to bring down the price of oil
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slang (usually passive) to cause to be elated and then suddenly depressed, as from using drugs
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Cause to fall, collapse, or die. For example, The pilot won a medal for bringing down enemy aircraft , or The bill's defeat was sure to bring down the party . [c. 1300]
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Cause a punishment or judgment, as in The bomb threats brought down the public's wrath on the terrorists [Mid-1600s]
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Reduce, lower, as in I won't buy it till they bring down the price , or He refused to bring himself down to their level . This usage may be literal, as in the first example, or figurative, as in the second. [First half of 1500s]
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.
Inflation has proved harder to bring down than expected.
From Barron's
Judges are still reluctant to bring down the hammer for AI-fabrications if lawyers acknowledge their fault and “throw themselves on the mercy of the court,” Volokh says.
From Los Angeles Times
On the Chesapeake Bay, market hunters favored punt guns—cannons weighing up to 200 pounds, with barrels made from boiler pipe—that could bring down 100 ducks with one shot.
He brought down unemployment and revived growth, but it was his social reforms that defined his tenure.
From Barron's
But he added: "We need to see further, more fundamental solutions be employed to actually bring down costs overall to the system."
From BBC
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.