to broach someone's concerns
1
7.0
- phrasal verb
- /broʊtʃ/
- It's important to broach someone's concerns early in a project to avoid misunderstandings.
Examples
-
After thinking it over, he finally broached his concerns to his supervisor.
-
She was unsure how to broach her concerns with the rest of the team.
-
Please broach her concerns during the meeting.
-
During the meeting, she decided to broach her concerns about the project's budget with the team.
-
It's important to broach any concerns you have about the new policies with your supervisor.
-
Before the presentation, I will broach my concerns regarding the timeline with the project manager.
Synonyms
∞
3.2
To bring up a subject or cause people to notice it
788
2.6
To mention a subject for discussion
23
7.4
To bring up a difficult or sensitive subject
22
3.7
To bring up a topic or problem for discussion
9
6.0
Talk about something worrying you so you feel better
7
3.9
Speak in public to say you are worried about something
6
6.7
To start talking about a topic that may be difficult or sensitive
Antonyms
How Direct
- Informal
135
3.1
- Formal
7
3.9
1
7.0
∞
1.3
4
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'broach' means to bring up or introduce and 'someone's concerns' refers to their worries, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the phrase. This follows a regular verb + object pattern (introduce X), with no idiomatic shift, making it immediately understandable.
Etymology
The phrase broach someone's concerns comes from an old image: to broach meant to make a hole in a barrel to let out what was inside. So to broach someone's concerns is like opening that barrel to let out someone's concerns — their 'worries' — and begin a talk about them.