bring to bear

verb

To aim a weapon at a target.

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

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Meanings

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

present singular third person brings to bear · participle present bringing to bear · participle past brought to bear · past brought to bear

  1. transitiveTo aim a weapon at a target.

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

  2. idiomatictransitiveTo apply; to employ something to achieve an intended effect.

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

    1 more example

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

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 瞄準 /瞄准, 施加
  • 瞄準 /瞄准 (miáozhǔn)aim a weapon
  • 施加 (shījiā)employ to achieve an effect
  • 應用 /应用 (yìngyòng)employ to achieve an effect
Finnish suunnata, ottaa käyttöön
  • suunnataaim a weapon
  • ottaa käyttöönemploy to achieve an effect
  • käyttääemploy to achieve an effect
French pointer, viser
  • pointeraim a weapon
  • viseraim a weapon
  • employeremploy to achieve an effect
  • appliqueremploy to achieve an effect
German richten, aufbringen
  • richtenaim a weapon
  • aufbringenemploy to achieve an effect
  • ausübenemploy to achieve an effect
Greek εξασκώ
  • εξασκώ (exaskó)employ to achieve an effect
Polish wykorzystywać, wykorzystać
  • wykorzystywaćemploy to achieve an effect
  • wykorzystaćemploy to achieve an effect
Russian направлять, претворять в жизнь
  • направлять (napravljatʹ)aim a weapon
  • претворять в жизнь (pretvorjatʹ v žiznʹ)employ to achieve an effect
Swedish applicera, tillämpa
  • appliceraemploy to achieve an effect
  • tillämpaemploy to achieve an effect
  • ta tillemploy to achieve an effect
Cite this entry
APA

bring to bear. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bring%20to%20bear

MLA

“bring to bear.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bring%20to%20bear. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bring to bear,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bring%20to%20bear.

Source: bring to bear on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.