brunt

noun

\ ˈbrənt

Definition of brunt

1 : the principal force, shock, or stress (as of an attack) bear the brunt of the storm the brunt of the struggle with the German army fell upon the Russians— Walter Lippmann

2 : the greater part : burden

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Examples of brunt in a Sentence

the brunt of the responsibility fell on her shoulders

Recent Examples on the Web

Much as the dog still manages to eat so much homework, pets and babies sometimes bear the brunt of the blame for bruises caused by cosmetic work. — Liz Krieger, Town & Country, "The Stealthy Lies People Tell to Cover up Their Plastic Surgery," 26 Feb. 2019 Buying houseplants is my way of striking back after being made the brunt of a particularly mean, ugly joke by Chicago weather. — Cindy Dampier, chicagotribune.com, "#PlantShelfie: Houseplants are having a social media moment," 1 May 2018 This made her a prominent target for American shells, and the aging battleship ended up taking the brunt of incoming American fire. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Sunken Japanese World War II Battleship Discovered Off Solomon Islands," 7 Feb. 2019 In both cases, the urban wealthy and middle classes have disproportionately borne the brunt. — Diana Choyleva, WSJ, "Why China’s New Year Wasn’t Very Festive," 13 Feb. 2019 The two cars sustained the brunt of the damage in the 12-car wreck. — Ellen J. Horrow, USA TODAY, "Watch: Wild and memorable NASCAR crashes at Talladega Superspeedway," 27 Apr. 2018 And the site's community managers bore the brunt of the abuse. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Book tells the inside story of how Reddit came to be the Internet’s “id”," 30 Dec. 2018 To be sure, multinational companies like Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. would face the brunt of the impact from a trade war. — WSJ, "Small-Caps Are Surging, but Their Haven Status Is in Jeopardy," 23 July 2018 But Americans who are uninsured may easily be left out to dry and face the full brunt of a list price. — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, "3 Key Lessons From Trump's Drug Price Feud With Pfizer," 11 July 2018

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