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Glite Dictionary
to bite the bullet

to bite the bullet

12 5.8
To face a difficult or unpleasant situation bravely
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : hacer de tripas corazón
  • We waste too much money in this government; it's time to bite the bullet.

You're just going to have to bite the bullet and take meds.

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Examples

  • I think they might just have to bite the bullet on vacation time here.

    Blog text (20)

  • That's why it's time to bite the bullet, suck it up, and look to the future.

    Blog text (25)

  • So I think I will just bite the bullet and get rid of this.

    Freddy My Love

  • We gotta just bite the bullet on this thing.

    Fargo (1996)

  • The board chairman kept saying how everyone would have to bite the bullet.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Now I'm going to bite the bullet and say this is all my fault.

  • Finally, in December, I made the choice that I just needed to bite the bullet, move on, and get healthier.

    Blog text (2)

  • You're just going to have to bite the bullet and take meds.

    Andrew Huberman

  • If statehood wins, Congress should bite the bullet and deny the statehood petition.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet and confront the issue head-on.

Synonyms

to take the bull by the horns
vsto bite the bullet
  • Informal
4 5.6

To deal with a difficult problem directly and bravely

faces unpleasant or painful situations with steady courage rather than boldness
to grab the bull by the horns
vsto bite the bullet
  • Informal
1 6.3

Face a difficult problem directly and bravely

faces unpleasant or painful situations with steady courage and determination
to take the challenge head-on
vsto bite the bullet
  • Informal
3.9

To face a difficult problem directly and work hard to solve it

faces unpleasant or painful situations with courage rather than mere directness

Antonyms

to avoid
∞ 1.0

To stay away from something or not do it to stop something bad from happening

to shirk
19 6.3

To avoid doing work because it is hard or unpleasant

How Brave

to bite the bullet
  • Informal
12 5.8
to face up
  • Informal
38 4.1
to grin and bear it
  • Informal
5 6.8
to accept
∞ 3.5

Surface Forms

bite the bullet infinitive

Morphology

bite + the + bullet

The meaning 'to face a painful or difficult situation with courage' cannot be predicted from the literal meanings of 'bite' (to grip with teeth) and 'bullet' (a projectile); the phrase is idiomatic and relies on a cultural/historical image (biting a bullet to endure pain). A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but lacks that background would not infer the idiomatic sense, and while some languages have analogous idioms, the meaning is not compositionally transparent.

Etymology

The idiom bite the bullet comes from a popular story about soldiers. One common tale says that when there was no pain medicine, wounded men would bite a bullet during surgery to stop themselves from crying out, so to 'bite the bullet' now means 'face something painful or difficult with courage'.