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
-
Around the summer solstice the alligator mother shoves vegetation from her wetland habitat into a pile to create a nest.—
Elizabeth Preston,
Scientific American,
16 Dec. 2025 -
When Arthur tries to stop the stranger who has invaded his home from rifling through his drawers, Frank shoves the frail man to the ground.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Long-standing geological evidence from Antarctica and elsewhere around the world shows that as ice melts and flows off the land, the land itself rises because the ice no longer presses it down.—
Keiji Horikawa,
The Conversation,
22 Dec. 2025
-
But as any reader knows, the life ruining is the point, and Red Rising is a book that Abughazaleh presses into a lot of people’s hands.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
19 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
The Cosmic Pathway compresses 13 billion years of history into a single 360-foot-long ramp.—
Iona Brannon,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Nov. 2025
-
The new system compresses that capability into a device spanning just a few square centimeters, without sacrificing power, pulse duration, or bandwidth.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Nov. 2025
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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 10 Jan. 2026.
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