as in shoves
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
Relevance
bears down on
2 of 2phrase
as in highlights
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 bears (down on)
Verb
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Levi shoves someone just out of the frame, demands to know who threw stones, and later fires a shot, seemingly away from the crowd.—
Sam Metz,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Feb. 2026 -
The agent shoves the observer again, and then turns his attention to Pretti, pushing him out of the way before shoving the observer to the ground.—
Yahya Abou-Ghazala,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The Chatten-Brown letter presses council members to require the developer to fully mitigate project impacts so that taxpayers are not later required to shoulder the cost of infrastructure.—
Jennifer Van Grove,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 Mar. 2026
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As Homer and Plumb’s investigation presses ahead, those feelings and their motivating factors gain steady, arresting clarity.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In operation, the actuator compresses and holds the Ni-Ti tubes, causing the material to heat up.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Their terahertz microscope compresses long terahertz waves into a microscopic spot.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Bears (down on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bears%20%28down%20on%29. Accessed 6 Mar. 2026.
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