bear up

verb

Definition of bear up

: support, encourage

1 : to summon up courage, resolution, or strength bearing up under the strain

2a : to prove to be true, accurate, or valid : hold up The deal was scrapped when it became apparent that it would not bear up to scrutiny from the European Commission.— Lars Brandle

b : to prove to be effective or able to withstand something : hold up The brand … first became popular after the duo succeeded in building cars that could bear up to Sweden's rough roads and freezing temperatures.— Hannah M. Muralla

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Examples of bear up in a Sentence

repeatedly borne up in times of adversity by his faith

Recent Examples on the Web

Changes for others were modest, from 65 to 66 for folks born up to 1955, and – eventually – 67 for those born in or after 1960. — Ken Fisher, USA TODAY, "4 Social Security myths and the reasons why they're overblown," 24 June 2018 More broadly, the changing shape of the game—its ever-increasing affinity, borne up by the analytics revolution, for home runs and strikeouts—is a matter of daily conversation. — Robert O'connell, The Atlantic, "Bartolo Colón, One of the Last of His Kind," 4 June 2018 Musicals sometimes bear up to this treatment, and may even benefit from it, because good singers cannot help but fill their voices to the brim. — Jesse Green, New York Times, "Review: An ‘As You Like It’ That Is More Prose Than Poetry," 28 Sep. 2017 Silly season is where silly stuff happens, stuff that tests the bounds of statistical reason but bear up to detailed analysis. — Martin Rogers, USA TODAY, "U.S. men's national team has little margin for error after loss to Costa Rica," 1 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bear up.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.