as in to weigh (on or upon)
to push steadily against with some force
you need to bear down on that cap a bit to get it to latch tightly
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
bear down on
2 of 2phrase
as in highlight
to indicate the importance of by centering attention on
Our manager bore down on the need to meet upcoming deadlines.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bear (down on)
Verb
-
Riverwork’s apparent arc is one of oblivion—like pressing an ear to the murmur and purl of an undercurrent.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 May 2026 -
According to text messages obtained via a public records request, Newsom’s office pressed Leigh Hanson, then-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s chief of staff, starting in late May 2024 to clear RVs near the Lynch family’s house in the Temescal neighborhood.—
Lia Russell,
Sacbee.com,
20 May 2026
Verb
-
Replays on Cleveland’s scoreboard showed Thompson grab Merrill by the neck and shove him to the deck.—
Hunter Patterson,
New York Times,
16 May 2026
-
The next day she is shipped off to her first job, also within the confines of this impossibly vast building, which involves shoving film canisters down a pneumatic tube.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
But the window that Pawlikowski chooses for Fatherland is defiantly compact, a stretch of time that the director compresses even more to place the suicide of Erika’s brother Klaus, which happened in the south of France two months before, within the space of the trip.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
-
Anything that compresses operating margin compresses the cash flow bondholders are lending against.—
Dara-Abasi Ita,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
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.
Cite this Entry
“Bear (down on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bear%20%28down%20on%29. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
