bear
Other forms: bearing; borne; bears
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 — an investor who is pessimistic about the market. In its verb form, bear is rooted in the Old English beran, meaning “to bring forth, sustain, endure” 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.
Definitions of bear
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be pregnant with“She is bearing his child”
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synonyms:
carry, expect, gestate, have a bun in the oven
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birth, deliver, give birth, have
cause to be born
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expect
look forward to the birth of a child
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type of:
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birth, deliver, give birth, have
cause to be born
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birth, deliver, give birth, have
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cause to be born
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synonyms:
birth, deliver, give birth, have
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carry, expect, gestate, have a bun in the oven
be pregnant with
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types:
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twin
give birth to twins
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drop
give birth; used for animals
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foal
give birth to a foal
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cub
give birth to cubs
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kitten
have kittens
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lamb
give birth to a lamb
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litter
give birth to a litter of animals
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pup, whelp
birth
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farrow, pig
give birth
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fawn
have fawns
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calve, have young
birth
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carry, expect, gestate, have a bun in the oven
be pregnant with
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type of:
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bring forth, produce
bring forth or yield
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carry, expect, gestate, have a bun in the oven
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bring forth, "The apple tree bore delicious apples this year"“The unidentified plant bore gorgeous flowers”
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synonyms:
turn out
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types:
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spin off
produce as a consequence of something larger
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seed
bear seeds
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crop
yield crops
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overbear
bear too much
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fruit
bear fruit
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have
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have rightfully; of rights, titles, and offices
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bring in
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move while holding up or supporting
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support or hold in a certain manner
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types:
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sling
hold or carry in a sling
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stoop
carry oneself, often habitually, with head, shoulders, and upper back bent forward
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piggyback
support on the back and shoulders
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balance, poise
hold or carry in equilibrium
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acquit, behave, carry, comport, conduct, deport
behave in a certain manner
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juggle
hold with difficulty and balance insecurely
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fluster
be flustered; behave in a confused manner
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assert, put forward
insist on having one's opinions and rights recognized
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deal
behave in a certain way towards others
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walk around
behave in a certain manner or have certain properties
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pose, posture
behave affectedly or unnaturally in order to impress others
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contain or hold; have within
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types:
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retain
hold back within
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confine, enclose, hold in
close in; "darkness confined him"
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border, bound
form the boundary of; be contiguous to
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embank
enclose with banks, as for support or protection
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rail, rail in
enclose with rails
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box in, box up
enclose or confine as if in a box
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frame
enclose in a frame, as of a picture
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type of:
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include
have as a part; be made up out of
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have on one's person
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put up with something or somebody unpleasant“I cannot bear his constant criticism”
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synonyms:
abide, brook, digest, endure, put up, stand, stick out, stomach, suffer, support, tolerate
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suffer
experience (emotional) pain
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types:
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accept, live with, swallow
tolerate or accommodate oneself to
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hold still for, stand for
tolerate or bear
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bear up
endure cheerfully
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take lying down
suffer without protest; suffer or endure passively
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take a joke
listen to a joke at one's own expense
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sit out
endure to the end
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pay
bear (a cost or penalty), in recompense for some action
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get one's lumps, take one's lumps
suffer the results or consequences of one's behavior or actions
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type of:
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allow, countenance, let, permit
consent to, give permission
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suffer
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take on as one's own the expenses or debts of another person“She agreed to bear the responsibility”
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types:
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carry-the can, face the music
accept the unpleasant consequences of one's actions
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type of:
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take
take into one's possession
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carry-the can, face the music
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behave in a certain manner“he bore himself with dignity”
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types:
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fluster
be flustered; behave in a confused manner
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assert, put forward
insist on having one's opinions and rights recognized
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deal
behave in a certain way towards others
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walk around
behave in a certain manner or have certain properties
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pose, posture
behave affectedly or unnaturally in order to impress others
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attitudinise, attitudinize
assume certain affected attitudes
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a massive carnivorous or omnivorous mammal with a long shaggy coat and strong claws
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types:
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bear cub
a young bear
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Ursus arctos, brown bear, bruin
large ferocious bear of Eurasia
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bruin
a conventional name for a bear used in tales following usage in the old epic `Reynard the Fox'
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American black bear, Euarctos americanus, Ursus americanus, black bear
brown to black North American bear; smaller and less ferocious than the brown bear
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Asiatic black bear, Selenarctos thibetanus, Ursus thibetanus, black bear
bear with a black coat living in central and eastern Asia
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Thalarctos maritimus, Ursus Maritimus, ice bear, polar bear
white bear of Arctic regions
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Melursus ursinus, Ursus ursinus, sloth bear
common coarse-haired long-snouted bear of south-central Asia
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Syrian bear, Ursus arctos syriacus
yellowish-grey Syrian brown bear
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Ursus arctos horribilis, Ursus horribilis, grizzly, grizzly bear, silver-tip, silvertip
powerful brownish-yellow bear of the uplands of western North America
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Alaskan brown bear, Kodiak, Kodiak bear, Ursus arctos middendorffi, Ursus middendorffi
brown bear of coastal Alaska and British Columbia
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cinnamon bear
reddish-brown color phase of the American black bear
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type of:
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carnivore
a terrestrial or aquatic flesh-eating mammal
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an investor with a pessimistic market outlook; an investor who expects prices to fall and so sells now in order to buy later at a lower price
Pronunciation
US
/bɛər/
UK
/bɛə/
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Commonly confused words
bare / bear
Bare means naked, but to bear is to carry something. A bear is also a brown furry animal, but most people keep that one straight.
Word Family
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