reckon with
Idioms-
Take into account, be prepared for, as in The third-party movement is a force to be reckoned with during the primaries . This usage was first recorded in 1885.
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Deal with, as in Your lost wallet isn't the only problem we have to reckon with . Also see take into account .
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.
After McVeigh got caught, news outlets had to reckon with the choices they made in the hours after the bombing.
From Slate • Apr. 19, 2026
Nor does it reckon with data on straight men’s growing acceptance of homosexuality or the role of technology in connecting and disconnecting people, or evidence of declining associational activities in general.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
There’s no satisfactory answer to that, although it’s fair to say that the papacies of Francis and Leo represent the first serious efforts to reckon with those more recent crimes.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026
And the middle class is only now beginning to reckon with what that means.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
In several years, I’d get my chance to work for the university and reckon with some of these community-relations problems directly, but right now Art was just kindly offering to pass around my résumé.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
