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🌪️ To approach fast 🎯 To focus effort 🤰 To push hard 🏋️ To press heavily
to bear down

to bear down

16 5.8
Move quickly and forcefully toward someone or something to attack
  • phrasal verb
  • /bɛr daʊn/
translation icon : arremeter contra
  • The angry dog was bearing down on the intruder in the yard.

Instead of you being the trolley operator, you're just some person who's wandered by and you see the trolley out of control, bearing down on five people.

Examples

  • The woman looks up, sees the locomotive bearing down on her.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Suddenly, they see a John Deere harvester bearing down on them.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • His buddies take out the two foot soldiers, but the officer comes bearing down on him.

    Memorial Day (2011)

  • The two women held their breath as the footsteps bore down on them.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • We have a contact bearing down on us at almost 40 knots.

    Phantom (2013)

  • I don't know if I passed out or what... but when I looked up, the train was bearing down on us.

    The Fugitive (1993)

  • A big part of the Army of the Potomac was bearing down on him.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Annie starts to jump to the other lane, but there's a van bearing down from the opposite direction.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Pratt and Jones reach the open door and see the oncoming train bearing down on Dean.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • With the Russians bearing down on us, we left Altaussee with some 3000 pieces, including the Ghent Altarpiece and the Bruges Madonna and Child.

    The Monuments Men (2014)

Synonyms

to charge
vsto bear down
128 3.6

Move forward quickly, often to attack

moves toward someone with similar speed but aims to confront
to pounce
vsto bear down
54 4.1

To jump suddenly onto something to grab or attack it

moves quickly and forcefully toward someone rather than a sudden downward strike
to bear down on
vsto bear down
  • Specialized
7 7.7

To move a ship toward another ship often to attack it

moves toward people or things to attack, not limited to ships
to bear down upon
vsto bear down
  • Specialized
1 8.2

Sail a ship close to another one, usually to attack

moves toward any target to confront, not only ship approaches

Antonyms

to retreat
235 4.0

To move back from a place or plan to avoid danger

How Forceful

charge
65 4.8
to bear down
16 5.8
to advance
417 3.4
to approach
532 2.1

Surface Forms

bear down infinitive
bearing down present participle
bears down third person singular
bore down past
bore down past participle

Morphology

bear + down

The constituents 'bear' (to carry/hold/endure) and 'down' (toward a lower position) combine to evoke applying weight or force downward, so a learner who knows both words could plausibly infer a sense of exerting pressure. However, 'bear' has multiple senses and the specific phrasal usage (especially in figurative senses like 'pressure' or 'burden') is somewhat idiomatic and requires familiarity with the verb+particle pattern, so the mapping is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Bear down meaning to move quickly toward someone comes from the picture of charging forward. Imagine a bull or a storm that lowers and runs; it bears its weight down toward the target, so the phrase means 'to move quickly and forcefully toward'.