bear down
verb
bore down; borne down also born down; bearing down; bears down
: to exert full strength and concentrated attention
see also:
Examples of bear down in a Sentence
you need to bear down on that cap a bit to get it to latch tightly
Recent Examples on the Web
From Boise topping a national migration ranking to severe weather bearing down on the Treasure Valley, here are the top stories Idaho Statesman readers are following. —
Idaho Statesman, 22 Apr. 2026 Stories where hurricanes don’t bear down on teenage girls and raze. —Jesmyn Ward, Vanity Fair, 21 Apr. 2026 The experience grew more unsettling by the second as the water went from dark blue to pitch black, a visual signifier of both the depth and the increasingly oppressive water pressure bearing down. —Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE, 20 Apr. 2026 In a small act of unselfishness, Celebrini then passed the puck to Collin Graf, only to have the Sharks winger send it right back to the still-teenaged wunderkind, who quickly fired the puck into the open net with a defender bearing down on him for his second goal of the game. —Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bear down
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Idaho Statesman, 22 Apr. 2026 Stories where hurricanes don’t bear down on teenage girls and raze. —Jesmyn Ward, Vanity Fair, 21 Apr. 2026 The experience grew more unsettling by the second as the water went from dark blue to pitch black, a visual signifier of both the depth and the increasingly oppressive water pressure bearing down. —Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE, 20 Apr. 2026 In a small act of unselfishness, Celebrini then passed the puck to Collin Graf, only to have the Sharks winger send it right back to the still-teenaged wunderkind, who quickly fired the puck into the open net with a defender bearing down on him for his second goal of the game. —Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bear down
Cite this Entry
“Bear down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/dictionary/bear%20down. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
bear down
intransitive verb
: to contract the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm during childbirth
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
