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to broach someone's concerns

to broach someone's concerns

1 7.0
To tell someone about worries or problems
  • phrasal verb
  • /broʊtʃ/
translation icon : plantear las preocupaciones de alguien
  • 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

to raise
vsto broach someone's concerns
3.2

To bring up a subject or cause people to notice it

is narrower, applying only to expressing personal worries to others
to bring up
vsto broach someone's concerns
788 2.6

To mention a subject for discussion

is used mainly for expressing personal worries rather than general topics
to broach
vsto broach someone's concerns
23 7.4

To bring up a difficult or sensitive subject

focuses specifically on bringing up personal worries for discussion
to raise the issue
vsto broach someone's concerns
22 3.7

To bring up a topic or problem for discussion

focuses on airing personal worries not formal problem logging
to get off one's chest
vsto broach someone's concerns
  • Informal
9 6.0

Talk about something worrying you so you feel better

focuses on raising worries for discussion rather than seeking relief
to voice concern
vsto broach someone's concerns
  • Formal
7 3.9

Speak in public to say you are worried about something

is more about privately bringing worries up to others for discussion
to broach the subject
vsto broach someone's concerns
6 6.7

To start talking about a topic that may be difficult or sensitive

is limited to raising personal worries rather than any topic

Antonyms

1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

332 3.0

To refuse to accept an idea or claim

How Direct

to speak up
  • Informal
135 3.1
to voice concern
  • Formal
7 3.9
to broach someone's concerns
1 7.0
to talk about
1.3

Surface Forms

Morphology

broach + someone's + concern

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.