bear

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitiveformal

   To hold up the weight of something, or to carry something from one place to another.

   Grammar: Always takes an object: the beams bear the roof.

   Patterns

   • bear something
   • bear the weight of something

   Those old pillars cannot bear the weight of another floor.

   Each runner had to bear a torch through the village.

   The ice was too thin to bear a grown man.

2. 2verbtransitive

   To put up with something painful, unpleasant or difficult without giving way.

   Grammar: Takes an object and is common after can't or couldn't: I can't bear the noise.

   Patterns

   • can't bear something
   • can't bear to do something
   • bear doing something

   She could not bear the thought of leaving her dog behind.

   He bore the long illness with great patience.

   I can't bear to watch the final minutes of a close match.

3. 3verbtransitiveformal

   To have a mark, name, feature or quality that can be seen or recognized.

   Grammar: Takes an object, often a noun like name, mark or resemblance: the letter bears a stamp.

   Patterns

   • bear a resemblance to someone
   • bear the name of someone
   • bear a mark

   The package bore a faded postmark from Lisbon.

   She bears a strong resemblance to her grandmother.

   The street bears the name of a local doctor.

4. 4verbtransitiveformal

   To give birth to a child, or to produce fruit or flowers.

   Grammar: Takes an object; the past participle is borne in the active (has borne) but born in the passive (was born).

   Patterns

   • bear a child
   • bear fruit

   She bore three children before she turned thirty.

   The apple tree finally bore fruit in its fifth year.

   The plan has borne results far sooner than expected.

5. 5nouncountable

   A large, heavy, thick-furred mammal that walks on the soles of its feet and lives in forests and mountains.

   Grammar: Has a regular plural: one bear, two bears.

   Patterns

   • a bear of something

   A brown bear was seen near the campsite at dawn.

   The bears spend the winter asleep in their dens.

   The children chose a stuffed bear as their mascot.

Word forms

Common combinations

bear the cost

Parents should not have to bear the cost of school trips alone.

bear responsibility

The manager agreed to bear responsibility for the mistake.

bear in mind

Bear in mind that the shop closes early on Sundays.

bear a grudge

He does not bear a grudge against anyone who beat him fairly.

bear fruit

Years of careful research finally began to bear fruit.

cannot bear the sight of

She cannot bear the sight of spiders.

Synonyms and how they differ

endure

Endure stresses lasting through a long difficulty, whereas bear can describe a single moment of pain or annoyance.

tolerate

Tolerate suggests allowing something you dislike to continue, while bear suggests the effort of coping with it.

carry

Carry is the everyday word for moving something, and bear sounds more formal or literary in that sense.

stand

Stand is informal and mostly used in negatives, as in I can't stand it, and is slightly weaker than can't bear.

Word family

bearer noun

a person who carries or holds something, such as a message or a cheque

bearable adjective

possible to put up with

unbearable adjective

too painful or unpleasant to endure

unbearably adverb

to a degree that is hard to endure

bearing noun

the way a person stands or behaves, or relevance to a matter

Commonly confused: bear or born? bear or bare?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “bear”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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