bear (down on) 1 of 2

verb

Definition of bear (down on)next
as in to weigh (on or upon)
to push steadily against with some force you need to bear down on that cap a bit to get it to latch tightly

Synonyms & Similar Words

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bear down on

2 of 2

phrase

as in highlight
to indicate the importance of by centering attention on Our manager bore down on the need to meet upcoming deadlines.

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bear (down on)
  1. press
  2. shove
  3. compress
Verb
  • Stubb is pressing European and NATO leaders to continue robust support for Ukraine.
    — John T. Shaw, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026
  • The PCMark 10 Storage test doesn’t heavily press the CPU, but the SSD is pushed to its limit during this test.
    — Michael Justin Allen Sexton, PC Magazine, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of press
Verb
  • Court records show that Jang reported McKinsey to police in 2023, accusing him of shoving one of their children and using rough physical discipline with them generally.
    — TERRY CHEA, Arkansas Online, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Once, apparently, my aunt had tried to shove my infant mother off their mother’s lap.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of shove
Verb
  • The biggest drag on the index was independent power producers (like Constellation, NRG, and Vistra), whose earnings multiples have compressed anywhere from 2 to 8 turns from their recent peaks.
    — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 2 Oct. 2026
  • In another, an agent apparently compressed data into a roughly 35 KB file and uploaded it through ntfy, but investigators could not recover the file to determine its contents.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of compress
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

bear (down)
bear (down on)
bear down on
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Cite this Entry

“Bear (down on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bear%20%28down%20on%29. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

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