Practice
Phrasal verbs with bear: meanings and examples
The verb bear can mean carry, tolerate, or produce, but its meaning changes when a short word follows it. If a colleague says, "Please bear with me," they are asking for patience. If a report bears out an idea, it gives evidence that the idea is true.
Choose bear with, bear down, bear out, bear up, or bear on by matching the particle to the sentence's meaning.
Read and practice
Read the examples and try the written questions in this guide. Listening recordings are not available for this lesson yet.
Try the written questions
bear with / bear down / bear out / bear up / bear on /ber wɪð/ /ber daʊn/ /ber aʊt/ /ber ʌp/ /ber ɑn/
The short answer
Read the word after bear before you decide what the phrase means. With usually concerns patience, down concerns effort, out concerns evidence, up concerns coping, and on concerns relevance.
Please bear with us while we check the address.
Why it works: With tells the listener that the speaker is asking for patience while an action is completed.
4 more examples
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The team had to bear down during the final hour of the match.
Bear down means that the team needed to make a more determined effort.
Not this:The team had to
slow downduring the final hour of the match. What changes: Slow down means reduce speed, but bear down means apply more effort. -
The survey results bear out her concern about long wait times.
The results support the concern by giving confirming evidence.
Not this:The survey results
mentionlong wait times. What changes: Mentioning a topic is weaker than bearing out a claim with evidence. -
He bore up well after the unexpected setback.
Bore up is the past form of bear up and describes coping with difficulty.
Not this:He
recovered quicklyafter the unexpected setback. What changes: Recover describes getting better, while bear up describes how someone manages during hardship. -
That question does not bear on the contract terms.
Bear on means have a connection with the subject under discussion.
Not this:That question
changesthe contract terms. What changes: Changing terms is an action, but bearing on them means being relevant to them.
Read the full guide
Do not translate bear by itself when it is followed by a particle. Treat bear with, bear down, bear out, bear up, and bear on as separate units. Then use the rest of the sentence to confirm the meaning you chose.
Ask for patience with bear with
Use bear with when you want someone to stay patient while you do something or while a delay continues. The phrase is often polite because it recognizes that the other person is waiting.
Please bear with me while I restart the presentation.
Here, bear with me means please be patient with me. It does not mean carry me.
Which phrase asks for patience during a delay?
Use bear with: Please bear with us while the system is updated.
Use bear down for a stronger effort
Bear down means to concentrate harder or use more force. It often appears when time is short or a task becomes demanding.
She bore down and finished the last two pages before lunch.
Bore down tells us that she made a determined effort. It is not a description of moving downward.
What does bear down suggest before an exam?
It suggests working with more focus: You need to bear down during the final revision.
Use bear out for evidence that confirms
Bear out means to show that a statement, belief, or prediction is true. The subject is often data, evidence, results, or a later event.
The records bore out the manager's account of the meeting.
The records give support to the account. They do more than repeat it.
Which phrase means that the facts support a claim?
Use bear out: The evidence bears out the original explanation.
Use bear up when someone is coping
Bear up describes a person's ability to manage a hard experience. You may use it in a question about someone's condition or in a statement about how they handled a problem.
How is Maya bearing up after the move?
The question asks how Maya is managing emotionally or practically during a difficult change.
Which phrase can you use to ask how a friend is managing after bad news?
Ask how the friend is bearing up. The phrase refers to coping with a difficult situation.
Use bear on for relevance
Bear on means relate to or affect the issue being considered. It is more formal than relate to, so it often appears in discussions, reports, and professional writing.
The new rule bears on every application received after July.
The rule is relevant to those applications, so it bears on them.
Which phrase says that a detail is relevant to the decision?
Use bear on: The detail bears on the decision because it affects the available options.
Before you go
Remember this
Use bear with for patience, bear down for stronger effort, bear out for confirming evidence, bear up for coping with difficulty, and bear on for relevance. The particle gives the phrase its working meaning.
Practice with the written examples
You can practice with the written questions in the Learn tab. Each answer includes an explanation.
Try the written questionsListening test not available yet
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Try the written questionsQuestions about "Phrasal verbs with bear: meanings and examples"
What does bear with mean?
Bear with means be patient with someone or something for a short time. Use it when a person is waiting while you finish a task, explain a problem, or deal with a delay. For example, a speaker may ask an audience to bear with them while they fix a technical problem.
Please bear with us while we check the address.
What does bear down mean?
Bear down means make a stronger effort or concentrate more intensely. It often appears when a task is difficult or time is limited. A student can bear down before a deadline, and a team can bear down when it needs to improve its performance.
Please wait outside while we check the address.
What does bear out mean?
Bear out means confirm or support a statement with evidence, facts, or later events. It is common in formal writing. For example, survey results may bear out a concern if the results provide evidence that the concern was justified.
The team had to bear down during the final hour of the match.
What does bear up mean?
Bear up means continue to cope with a difficult situation. It usually describes a person's response to stress, loss, illness, or a major change. You can ask someone how they are bearing up when you want to know how they are managing.
The team had to slow down during the final hour of the match.
What does bear on mean?
Bear on means relate to or be relevant to a subject, question, or decision. It has a formal tone and is often used in reports or discussions. If new information bears on a case, the information has a connection with the case being considered.
The survey results bear out her concern about long wait times.