bring to bear

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

bring to bear (third-person singular simple present brings to bear, present participle bringing to bear, simple past and past participle brought to bear)

1. (transitive) To aim a weapon at a target.

   The battleship brought her main guns to bear on the fort.

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To apply; to employ something to achieve an intended effect.

   to bring pressure to bear on someone, to bring influence to bear on someone

   Every possible pressure was brought to bear on the minister to ensure the unjust law was not passed.

Translations

aim a weapon

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瞄準／瞄准 (zh) (miáozhǔn)

• Finnish: suunnata (fi)
• French: pointer (fr), viser (fr)
• German: richten (de)
• Russian: направлять (ru) (napravljatʹ)

employ to achieve an effect

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 施加 (zh) (shījiā), 應用／应用 (zh) (yìngyòng)

• Finnish: ottaa käyttöön, käyttää (fi)
• French: employer (fr), appliquer (fr)
• German: aufbringen (de), ausüben (de)
• Greek: εξασκώ (el) (exaskó)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: wykorzystywać (pl) impf, wykorzystać (pl) pf
• Russian: претворять в жизнь (pretvorjatʹ v žiznʹ)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: applicera (sv), tillämpa (sv), ta till (sv)

Further reading

• “bring to bear”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “bring pressure/influence to bear on” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “bring something to bear on/upon” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.

Anagrams

• rebrobating