BEAR ON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bear on mean? 

• BEAR ON (verb)
  The verb BEAR ON has 4 senses:

1. be relevant to

2. have an effect upon

3. press, drive, or impel (someone) to action or completion of an action

4. keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

  Familiarity information: BEAR ON used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEAR ON (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be relevant to

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

bear on; come to; concern; have to do with; pertain; refer; relate; touch; touch on

Context example:

My remark pertained to your earlier comments

Verb group:

advert; allude; touch (make a more or less disguised reference to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear on"):

center; center on; concentrate on; focus on; revolve about; revolve around (center upon)

interest; matter to (be of importance or consequence)

affect; involve; regard (connect closely and often incriminatingly)

apply; go for; hold (be pertinent or relevant or applicable)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Have an effect upon

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

affect; bear on; bear upon; impact; touch; touch on

Context example:

Will the new rules affect me?

Hypernyms (to "bear on" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear on"):

repercuss (cause repercussions; have an unwanted effect)

slam-dunk (make a forceful move against)

act upon; influence; work (have and exert influence or effect)

bother; discommode; disoblige; incommode; inconvenience; put out; trouble (to cause inconvenience or discomfort to)

subject (cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to)

hit; strike (affect or afflict suddenly, usually adversely)

endanger; expose; peril; queer; scupper (put in a dangerous, disadvantageous, or difficult position)

hydrolise; hydrolize (make a compound react with water and undergo hydrolysis)

process; treat (subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition)

excite; stimulate (act as a stimulant)

redound (have an effect for good or ill)

tell on (produce an effect or strain on somebody)

strike a blow (affect adversely)

color; colour; distort; tinge (affect as in thought or feeling)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Press, drive, or impel (someone) to action or completion of an action

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bear on; push

Context example:

He pushed her to finish her doctorate

Hypernyms (to "bear on" is one way to...):

exhort; press; urge; urge on (force or impel in an indicated direction)

Verb group:

drive; labor; labour; push; tug (strive and make an effort to reach a goal)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear on"):

nudge (push into action by pestering or annoying gently)

bull; bull through (push or force)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

Sam cannot bear on Sue

Sense 4

Meaning:

Keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold

Context example:

Carry on the old traditions

Hypernyms (to "bear on" is one way to...):

hold; keep; maintain (cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., 'keep clean')

Verb group:

continue; go forward; proceed (move ahead; travel onward in time or space)

continue; go along; go on; keep; proceed (continue a certain state, condition, or activity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear on"):

re-start; restart; resume (take up or begin anew)

hang in; hang on; hold on; persevere; persist (be persistent, refuse to stop)

perpetuate (cause to continue or prevail)

keep up; prolong; sustain (lengthen or extend in duration or space)

mummify (preserve while making lifeless)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

It remained for me to adapt myself to Dora; to share with her what I could, and be happy; to bear on my own shoulders what I must, and be happy still.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories, Mr. Holmes,” said he. “How does this bear on the case?”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An institute within the National Institutes of Health with the mission to lead the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction.

(National Institute on Drug Abuse, NCI Thesaurus)