bear up

bore up; borne up also born up; bearing up; bears up

Definition of bear up

transitive verb

: support, encourage

intransitive verb

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 The average reduction in gestational length is about 6.1 days, the study found, but in some cases, babies were born up to two weeks early. — Jen Christensen, CNN, "Warming temperatures put women at risk of giving birth early, study says," 2 Dec. 2019 Big banks have done nicely nevertheless, borne up by America’s long economic expansion and by Mr Trump’s broad corporate-tax cut at the end of 2017. — The Economist, "Light relief The Fed has lightened the load on America’s banks," 15 Oct. 2019 As the first anniversary of the Oct. 27 attack nears, bearing up has become especially difficult. — Ben Sales, sun-sentinel.com, "How Pittsburgh survivors are struggling nearly a year later," 2 Oct. 2019 Leach then goes on the say the UCLA Bruin is a formidable contender, as well as the other bear up at Cal. — Jeff Bailey, The Denver Post, "Mike Leach give breakdown of the battle of Pac-12 mascots in classic press conference," 18 Sep. 2019 In other words, the Central-ist who bears up best to the grind of going 87-75 just might emerge victorious. — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Paul Daugherty: The Cincinnati Reds certainly have a shot in the underwhelming NL Central," 30 June 2019 Oleg Krashevsky, a local wildlife expert who was able to see the bear up-close, said the polar bear also appeared to have vision problems. — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE.com, "Exhausted, Starving Polar Bear Wanders Miles from Habitat to Search for Food in Russian City," 18 June 2019 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

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.

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Dictionary Entries near bear up

bear someone's name

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Cite this Entry

“Bear up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bear%20up. Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.

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