Meaning & use
bear bore borne
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To carry or support something heavy, or to accept something difficult.
Grammar: Takes an object: bear the weight, bear the pain. Past: bore; participle: borne.
Patterns
- bear something
- bear the weight of something
- bear the cost of something
The old bridge can still bear the weight of trucks.
She bore the pain without complaining.
Taxpayers will bear most of the cost.
verbtransitive
To give birth to a child, or to produce fruit or flowers.
Grammar: Past: bore; participle: borne, but born when talking about a person's birth.
Patterns
- bear a child
- be born
- bear fruit
She bore three children before she was thirty.
He was born in a small town near the coast.
The apple trees bore fruit for the first time last year.
verbtransitive
To show a feeling, mark, or quality on the outside.
Grammar: Often in fixed phrases: bear a resemblance, bear a signature, bear a name.
Patterns
- bear a resemblance to someone
- bear a name
- bear a mark
The document bore the president's signature.
She bears a strong resemblance to her grandmother.
The box bore no address.
Word forms
| base form | bear |
|---|---|
| third person singular | bears |
| past tense | bore |
| past participle | borne (born for birth) |
| -ing form | bearing |
Common combinations
- bear the weight of something
- These beams bear the weight of the whole roof.
- bear a resemblance to
- The painting bears a resemblance to an early photograph.
- bear fruit
- Their efforts finally bore fruit last spring.
- bear in mind
- Bear in mind that the office closes at four.
- bear the cost
- The company agreed to bear the cost of repairs.
Synonyms and how they differ
- carry
- The everyday word for holding and moving something; bear is more formal and often about weight or hardship.
- endure
- Focuses on suffering patiently for a long time; bear can be much shorter.
- produce
- Used for fruit, results, or goods; bear is the fixed choice for fruit and children.
Opposites
Word family
- bearing noun
- the way you stand or behave; also a direction or connection
- bearable adjective
- possible to accept or deal with
- unbearable adjective
- too bad or painful to accept
- born adjective
- having come into life at birth
Commonly confused: bear bore borne or bare? bear bore borne or bore/boar?
bear bore borne vs bare
Bare means 'not covered' and sounds the same as bear: bare feet, bear the pain. Check the meaning, not the sound.
bear bore borne vs bore/boar
Bore is also the past of bear and a word for a dull person; a boar is a wild pig. All three can sound alike.
Practice
The tree ______ no fruit for two years, but this summer it was full of apples.
Choose one answer.
The past tense of bear is bore, and the sentence describes a finished period. 'Born' is only used for birth, and 'bears' is present tense, which clashes with 'this summer'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bear bore borne”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.