bear
verb (used with object)
to hold up; support.
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bear
1 American
[bair]
/ bษษr /
verb (used with object)
bore,
bare,
borne,
born,
bearing
-
to hold up; support.
to bear the weight of the roof.
-
to hold or remain firm under (a load).
The roof will not bear the strain of his weight.
-
to bring forth (young); give birth to.
to bear a child.
-
to produce by natural growth.
a tree that bears fruit.
- Synonyms:
- yield
-
to hold up under; be capable of.
His claim doesn't bear close examination.
-
to press or push against.
The crowd was borne back by the police.
-
to hold or carry (oneself, one's body, one's head, etc.).
to bear oneself erectly.
-
to conduct (oneselfโ).
to bear oneself bravely.
-
to bear the blame.
-
to sustain without yielding or suffering injury; tolerate (usually used in negative constructions, unless qualified).
I can't bear your nagging. I can hardly bear to see her suffering so.
-
to be fit for or worthy of.
It doesn't bear repeating.
-
to carry; bring.
to bear gifts.
-
to carry in the mind or heart: to bear malice.
to bear love;
to bear malice.
-
to transmit or spread (gossip, tales, etc.).
-
to render; afford; give: to bear testimony.
to bear witness;
to bear testimony.
-
to lead; guide; take.
They bore him home.
-
to have and be entitled to.
to bear title.
-
to bear a resemblance.
-
to accept or have, as an obligation: to bear the cost.
to bear responsibility;
to bear the cost.
-
to stand in (a relation or ratio); have or show correlatively.
the relation that price bears to profit.
-
to possess, as a quality or characteristic; have in or on: to bear an inscription.
to bear traces;
to bear an inscription.
-
to have and use; exercise: to bear sway.
to bear authority;
to bear sway.
verb (used without object)
bore,
bare,
borne,
born,
bearing
-
to tend in a course or direction; move; go: to bear left at the fork in the road.
to bear west;
to bear left at the fork in the road.
-
to be located or situated.
The lighthouse bears due north.
-
to bring forth young or fruit.
Next year the tree will bear.
verb phrase
-
bear with to be patient or forbearing with.
Please bear with me until I finish the story.
-
bear down on / upon
-
to press or weigh down on.
-
to strive toward.
-
to approach something rapidly.
-
Nautical. to approach (another vessel) from windward.
The sloop bore down on us, narrowly missing our stern.
-
-
bear up to endure; face hardship bravely.
It is inspiring to see them bearing up so well.
-
bear out to substantiate; confirm.
The facts bear me out.
-
bear off
-
Nautical. to keep (a boat) from touching or rubbing against a dock, another boat, etc.
-
Nautical. to steer away.
-
Backgammon. to remove the stones from the board after they are all home.
-
-
bear on / upon to affect, relate to, or have connection with; be relevant to.
This information may bear on the case.
-
bear down
-
to press or weigh down.
-
to strive harder; intensify one's efforts.
We can't hope to finish unless everyone bears down.
-
Nautical. to approach from windward, as a ship.
The cutter was bearing down the channel at twelve knots.
-
idioms
-
bear false witness. see bear false witness.
-
bring to bear, to concentrate on with a specific purpose.
Pressure was brought to bear on those with overdue accounts.
-
bear witness. see bear witness.
bear
2
American
[bair]
/ bษษr /
noun
-
bears,
plural
-
bear
plural
-
any of the plantigrade, carnivorous or omnivorous mammals of the family Ursidae, having massive bodies, coarse heavy fur, relatively short limbs, and almost rudimentary tails.
-
any of various animals resembling the bear, as the ant bear.
-
a gruff, burly, clumsy, bad-mannered, or rude person.
-
a person who believes that market prices, especially of stocks, will decline (opposed to bull).
-
Informal. a person who shows great ability, enthusiasm, stamina, etc..
a bear for physics.
-
Astronomy. Bear, either of two constellations, Ursa Major or Ursa Minor.
-
Informal. a player at cards who rarely bluffs.
-
Bear. Russia.
adjective
verb (used with object)
beared,
bearing
idioms
Bear
3
American
[bair]
/ bษษr /
noun
bear
1
British
/ bษษ /
verb
-
to support or hold up; sustain
-
to bring or convey
to bear gifts
-
to take, accept, or assume the responsibility of
to bear an expense
-
(past participle bornin passive use except when foll by by) to give birth to
to bear children
-
(also intr) to produce by or as if by natural growth
to bear fruit
-
to tolerate or endure
she couldn't bear him
-
to admit of; sustain
his story does not bear scrutiny
-
to hold in the conscious mind or in one's feelings
to bear a grudge
I'll bear that idea in mind
-
to show or be marked with
he still bears the scars
-
to transmit or spread
to bear gossip
-
to render or supply (esp in the phrase bear witness )
-
to conduct or manage (oneself, the body, etc)
she bore her head high
-
to have, be, or stand in (relation or comparison)
his account bears no relation to the facts
-
(intr) to move, be located, or lie in a specified direction
the way bears east
-
to have by right; be entitled to (esp in the phrase bear title )
-
to give assistance
-
to bring into operation or effect
he brought his knowledge to bear on the situation
bear
2
British
/ bษษ /
noun
-
any plantigrade mammal of the family Ursidae : order Carnivora (carnivores). Bears are typically massive omnivorous animals with a large head, a long shaggy coat, and strong claws See also black bear brown bear polar bear
-
any of various bearlike animals, such as the koala and the ant bear
-
a clumsy, churlish, or ill-mannered person
-
a teddy bear
-
stock exchange
-
a speculator who sells in anticipation of falling prices to make a profit on repurchase
-
( as modifier ) Compare bull 1
a bear market
-
verb
Bear
3
British
/ bษษ /
noun
-
the English name for Ursa Major Ursa Minor
-
an informal name for Russia
bear
More Idioms
Usage
Whatโs the difference between bear and bare? As a verb, bear commonly means to endure something negative (as in I canโt bear to watch) or to carry, hold up, or support (as in The roof canโt bear that much weight), while as a noun it refers to the big furry animal (like grizzly bears and polar bears). Bare can be an adjective that means uncovered (as in bare feet) or empty or without the usual contents (as in bare cabinets or bare walls), or a verb meaning to reveal or open to view (as in bare your secrets). Bare is most commonly used as an adjective, usually involving something uncovered or empty. As a verb, bear is often used in the context of holding or carrying things, including in literal, physical ways (as in bear a load or bear weight) and in figurative ones (as in bear a grudge). To remember the difference in spelling, remember that bears have ears, and they are able to bear a lot of weight because of how big and strong they are, but they are never bare because they are covered in fur. Hereโs an example of bear and bare used correctly in a sentence. Example: Why does the bear never wear shoes? Because he prefers bare feet. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between bear and bare.
Commonly Confused
Since the latter part of the 18th century, a distinction has been made between born and borne as past participles of the verb bear1 . Borne is the past participle in all senses that do not refer to physical birth: The wheatfields have borne abundantly this year. Judges have always borne a burden of responsibility. Borne is also the participle when the sense is โto bring forth (young)โ and the focus is on the mother rather than on the child. In such cases, borne is preceded by a form of have or followed by by: Anna had borne a son the previous year. Two children borne by her earlier were already grown. When the focus is on the offspring or on something brought forth as if by birth, born is the standard spelling, and it occurs only in passive constructions: My friend was born in Ohio. No children have been born at the South Pole. A strange desire was born of the tragic experience. Born is also an adjective meaning โby birth,โ โinnate,โ or โnativeโ: born free; a born troublemaker; Mexican-born.
Synonym Usage
Bear, stand, endure refer to supporting the burden of something distressing, irksome, or painful. Bear and stand are close synonyms and have a general sense of withstanding: to bear a disappointment well; to stand a loss. Endure implies continued resistance and patience in bearing through a long time: to endure torture.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bear1
First recorded before 900; Middle English beren, Old English beran; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German beran, Dutch baren, Old Frisian, Old Norse bera, Gothic bairan, German (ge)bรคren, Russian berรซt โ(he) takes,โ Albanian bie, Tocharian pรคr-, Phrygian ab-beret โ(he) brings,โ Latin ferre, Old Irish berid โ(he) carries,โ Armenian berem, Greek phรฉrein, Sanskrit bhรกrati, Avestan baraiti; from Indo-European bher- ( see -fer, -phore)
Origin of bear2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bere, beare, beor(e), Old English bera; cognate with Frisian bฤr, Dutch beer, Old High German bero, German Bรคr; from Proto-Germanic beran- literally, โthe brown oneโ; akin to Old Norse bjวซrn, bersi; compare Lithuanian beฬฬras โbrownโ; cf. bruin
Explanation
To bear is to carry or endure, whether by physical or mental force. If you can bear to read on, you'll find out all the different ways to use the word bear. Obviously you know the big hairy mountain-roaming animal, but you might not have heard about a bear on Wall Street โ an investor who is pessimistic about the market. In its verb form, bear is rooted in the Old English beran, meaning โto bring forth, sustain, endureโ and more. So you can bear (or carry) a grudge. You can bear (or give birth to) children. Or you can bear (or stand) to listen to your great aunt tell the same story for the umpteenth time if you have a kind soul.
Vocabulary lists containing bear
ACT Vocabulary List
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Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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"The Banana Tree," Vocabulary from the short story
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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.
See Examples For:
Americans have been enchanted by sequoias since the 1850s, when a guy chasing a bear stumbled across the biggest tree he had ever seen.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 30, 2026
But this is where we raised our kids — and I can’t bear to leave.
From MarketWatch โ Oct. 30, 2026
It’s impossible to watch one, let alone all three, without realizing that Schoenbrun has a lot on their mind, sometimes too much for a single film to bear.
From Salon โ Oct. 29, 2026
Even if he does make a full recovery and returns to action, the 28-year-old will always have to bear blood clots in mind.
From BBC โ Oct. 28, 2026
If he was to stand a chance against the bear, it would be by using his wits.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Boden first garnered national acclaim with The Shack, a restaurant close by that, like the food at Maude and the Bear, highlights local flavors.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 27, 2026
British producer Jamie xx adds production to the glittery electropop tune “Every Single Weekend,” while Panda Bear lends his distinctive high tenor to the mellow indie-pop track “Highfield.”
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 20, 2026
In July, the eagle was found weak and disheveled on the shoreline of Big Bear Lake.
From Los Angeles Times โ Oct. 15, 2026
Gary Simms, a Cowbridge local, also had a picture with the actor when he saw him in the Bear Hotel on Sunday evening, the night before filming.
From BBC โ Oct. 14, 2026
Momma Bear stood up on her back legs, and Owen had never felt so small in his entire life.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
But as the film progresses, viewers will find it bears his inimitable stamp—which is to say, it’s an utterly original creation.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 28, 2026
Outside the perimeter fence, daily life bears little resemblance to the military activity unfolding inside.
From Barron's โ Oct. 27, 2026
Federal prosecutors noted that black bears and cougars are coveted by some for their use in traditional medicine.
From Los Angeles Times โ Oct. 24, 2026
Alaska is a state of 27 people who all spend their day in the woods fighting with bears.
From Slate โ Oct. 24, 2026
It was how the bears investigated something new, spiraling in toward it to assess the threat.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
The next day, the 45-year-old posts a video on Instagram, speaking outdoors in front of a bare wall.
From Barron's โ Oct. 28, 2026
Some Airbnb hosts are threatening to quit the platform, raise their housekeeping fees or pare their rental properties down to the bare essentials rather than accept new restrictions on checkout chores.
From Salon โ Oct. 28, 2026
Instead, the disparity between their domestic dominance and European shortcomings was laid bare once more.
From BBC โ Oct. 22, 2026
The state was apportioned a bare 300,000 acre-feet a year in 1928, when Las Vegas was merely a dusty outpost miles from the Hoover Dam construction site.
From Los Angeles Times โ Oct. 22, 2026
That night I went up the mountain and stood in front of that bare, old white tree.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Making things all the more difficult was the culpability that some players beared for the team’s fortunes.
From Los Angeles Times โ Sep. 17, 2025
“We had a couple of opportunities to strike when we had some baserunners on. It seems like when we got to those positions, that’s when their guys beared down and made some pitches.”
From Washington Times โ Oct. 9, 2020
Wrestling fans around the world beared witness to some of the most iconic moments in WWE history at Sunday night’s edition of WrestleMania.
From Fox News โ Apr. 8, 2019
"We got some runners on, and he beared down and started pitching different with runners in scoring position," Gomes said.
From Seattle Times โ Aug. 26, 2011
After a hesitation, he turned back to Kira and said in a low voice, ‘‘I beared them talking.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
Their first decision will be what happens with Carrick, and Saturday's match against Chelsea is likely to have a bearing on how United move forward.
From BBC โ Oct. 30, 2026
Railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt gave comparatively little, apart from the $1 million that founded the university bearing his name.
From Barron's โ Oct. 26, 2026
“We must regain confidence in ourselves, in our ability to confront and tame the torrent of events bearing down on us,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 25, 2026
Erin O’Neil, an attorney based in Connecticut, said some of her clients are now in deportation proceedings triggered by allegations of fraud over minor inconsistencies that have no bearing on the case.
From Los Angeles Times โ Oct. 23, 2026
Before Gwydion could speak again, the Horned King, bearing a torch, rode to the wicker baskets and thrust the fire into them.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
Exercising the waiver authority was "essential" for the US-Egypt relationship, "particularly in light of Egypt's helpful role following Operation Epic Fury," according to the September 4 memo seen by Reuters which bore Rubio's signature.
From BBC โ Oct. 30, 2026
“The AI trade bore the brunt of the mover lower,” he added, with the AI bottleneck and power themes also badly hit.
From MarketWatch โ Oct. 23, 2026
The strategy was on display this week as Le Pen released a video address that bore the hallmarks of a president addressing the nation.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 20, 2026
Seoul and Tokyo again bore the brunt of the selling as traders bailed out of once-imperious chipmakers, though the selling was heavy across most of the region, tracking sharp losses on Wall Street.
From Barron's โ Oct. 15, 2026
Hitler’s new target was Stalingrad, a large industrial city on the Volga—and the one that bore Stalin’s name, an insult to Stalin himself.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Patrick Stewart was born to Gladys and Alfred “Pat” Stewart on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, England.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 29, 2026
Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, England, a small town in West Yorkshire.
From Salon โ Oct. 29, 2026
Muharemovic was born in Slovenia, brought up in Austria, announced himself in Italy and is now showcasing his talent in Yorkshire, having unwittingly found himself in the eye of a World Cup storm.
From BBC โ Oct. 29, 2026
Stewart was born on July 13, 1940 in the small West Yorkshire town of Mirfield, the third of three brothers in a working-class family.
From Barron's โ Oct. 29, 2026
It’s as if the shack was born out of the swamp.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
"The additional cost is borne by the state," he said.
From Barron's โ Oct. 25, 2026
Similarly, the expense borne by DeepSeek to develop its models has been astronomically less than what it has cost US AI firms to develop their own.
From BBC โ Oct. 19, 2026
That is borne out in research, which shows relational organizing works because young people trust their neighbors or community networks far more than national parties.
From Salon โ Oct. 2, 2026
The U.A.E. has borne the brunt of Iran’s attacks during the war with more than 2,800 drones and missiles sent its way, far more than Iran fired at Israel.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Sep. 14, 2026
For the scent had borne him back to the day when he had lit his little fire under the sunny bank; and for the moment all else between was out of waking memory.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, ยฉ Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritageยฎ Idioms Dictionary copyright ยฉ 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
