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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 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)

"Grin and bear it," repeated the accountant, thinking, no doubt, that he had hit upon a very happy phrase.

From A Canadian Bankclerk by Buschlen, J. P.

His philosophy of life is totally different from that of Stoicism; for the Stoic says, "Grin and bear it," and usually succeeds in doing neither.

From Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson by Stevenson, Robert Louis

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.