/ English Dictionary

BEAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: bore    , born    , borne   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Massive plantigrade carnivorous or omnivorous mammals with long shaggy coats and strong claws

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("bear" is a kind of...):

carnivore (a terrestrial or aquatic flesh-eating mammal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bear"):

bear cub (a young bear)

brown bear; bruin; Ursus arctos (large ferocious bear of Eurasia)

bruin (a conventional name for a bear used in tales following usage in the old epic 'Reynard the Fox')

American black bear; black bear; Euarctos americanus; Ursus americanus (brown to black North American bear; smaller and less ferocious than the brown bear)

Asiatic black bear; black bear; Selenarctos thibetanus; Ursus thibetanus (bear with a black coat living in central and eastern Asia)

ice bear; polar bear; Thalarctos maritimus; Ursus Maritimus (white bear of Arctic regions)

Melursus ursinus; sloth bear; Ursus ursinus (common coarse-haired long-snouted bear of south-central Asia)

Holonyms ("bear" is a member of...):

family Ursidae; Ursidae (bears and extinct related forms)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An investor with a pessimistic market outlook; an investor who expects prices to fall and so sells now in order to buy later at a lower price

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("bear" is a kind of...):

investor (someone who commits capital in order to gain financial returns)

Antonym:

bull (an investor with an optimistic market outlook; an investor who expects prices to rise and so buys now for resale later)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have on one's person

Example:

bear a scar

Synonyms:

bear; wear

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

feature; have (have as a feature)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to be born

Example:

My wife had twins yesterday!

Synonyms:

bear; birth; deliver; give birth; have

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

bring forth; produce (bring forth or yield)

"Bear" entails doing...:

conceive (become pregnant; undergo conception)

Verb group:

bear; carry; expect; gestate; have a bun in the oven (be pregnant with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

bear; carry; expect; gestate; have a bun in the oven (be pregnant with)

calve; have young (give birth to (a calf))

fawn (have fawns)

farrow; pig (give birth to (piglets))

pup; whelp (give birth to (a puppy))

litter (give birth to a litter of animals)

lamb (give birth to a lamb)

kitten (give birth to kittens)

cub (give birth to cubs)

foal (give birth to a foal)

drop (give birth; used for animals)

twin (give birth to twins)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be pregnant with

Example:

I am carrying his child

Synonyms:

bear; carry; expect; gestate; have a bun in the oven

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

bear; birth; deliver; give birth; have (cause to be born)

"Bear" entails doing...:

conceive (become pregnant; undergo conception)

Verb group:

bear; birth; deliver; give birth; have (cause to be born)

expect (look forward to the birth of a child)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 4

Meaning:

Put up with something or somebody unpleasant

Example:

She stuck out two years in a miserable marriage

Synonyms:

abide; bear; brook; digest; endure; put up; stand; stick out; stomach; suffer; support; tolerate

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

allow; countenance; let; permit (consent to, give permission)

Verb group:

suffer (experience (emotional) pain)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

pay (bear (a cost or penalty), in recompense for some action)

sit out (endure to the end)

take a joke (listen to a joke at one's own expense)

take lying down (suffer without protest; suffer or endure passively)

bear up (endure cheerfully)

hold still for; stand for (tolerate or bear)

accept; live with; swallow (tolerate or accommodate oneself to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot bear Sue

Derivation:

bearable (capable of being borne though unpleasant)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Move while holding up or supporting

Example:

bearing orders

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

carry; transport (move while supporting, either in a vehicle or in one's hands or on one's body)

"Bear" entails doing...:

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

frogmarch (carry someone against his will upside down such that each limb is held by one person)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Verb group:

bear (support or hold in a certain manner)

Derivation:

bearer (someone whose employment involves carrying something)

bearer (a messenger who bears or presents)

bearer (one of the mourners carrying the coffin at a funeral)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Support or hold in a certain manner

Example:

He carried himself upright

Synonyms:

bear; carry; hold

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

sling (hold or carry in a sling)

stoop (carry oneself, often habitually, with head, shoulders, and upper back bent forward)

piggyback (support on the back and shoulders)

balance; poise (hold or carry in equilibrium)

acquit; bear; behave; carry; comport; conduct; deport (behave in a certain manner)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Verb group:

bear (move while holding up or supporting)

Derivation:

bearing (characteristic way of bearing one's body)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Bring forth

Example:

The unidentified plant bore gorgeous flowers

Synonyms:

bear; turn out

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

fruit (bear fruit)

overbear (bear too much)

crop (yield crops)

seed (bear seeds)

spin off (produce as a consequence of something larger)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Also:

bear out (support with evidence or authority or make more certain or confirm)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Bring in

Example:

How much does this savings certificate pay annually?

Synonyms:

bear; pay; yield

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

bring in; clear; earn; gain; make; pull in; realise; realize; take in (earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages)

Domain category:

investment; investment funds (money that is invested with an expectation of profit)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

clear; net (yield as a net profit)

pay off (yield a profit or result)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 9

Meaning:

Take on as one's own the expenses or debts of another person

Example:

She agreed to bear the responsibility

Synonyms:

accept; assume; bear; take over

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

take (take into one's possession)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

carry the can; face the music (accept the unpleasant consequences of one's actions)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 10

Meaning:

Have rightfully; of rights, titles, and offices

Example:

He held the governorship for almost a decade

Synonyms:

bear; hold

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

have; have got; hold (have or possess, either in a concrete or an abstract sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bearer (the person who is in possession of a check or note or bond or document of title that is endorsed to him or to whoever holds it)

Sense 11

Meaning:

Behave in a certain manner

Example:

They conducted themselves well during these difficult times

Synonyms:

acquit; bear; behave; carry; comport; conduct; deport

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

bear; carry; hold (support or hold in a certain manner)

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

fluster (be flustered; behave in a confused manner)

assert; put forward (insist on having one's opinions and rights recognized)

deal (behave in a certain way towards others)

walk around (behave in a certain manner or have certain properties)

pose; posture (behave affectedly or unnaturally in order to impress others)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bearing (dignified manner or conduct)

Sense 12

Meaning:

Have

Example:

bear a signature

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

feature; have (have as a feature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

carry (have on the surface or on the skin)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 13

Meaning:

Contain or hold; have within

Example:

This can contains water

Synonyms:

bear; carry; contain; hold

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "bear" is one way to...):

include (have as a part, be made up out of)

Verb group:

contain; hold; take (be capable of holding or containing)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bear"):

retain (hold back within)

confine; enclose; hold in (close in)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

He could not bear me; and in putting me from him he tried, as I believe, to put away the notion that I had any claim upon him—and succeeded.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The bear grew weak, and never ceased crying from his pain.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A certain king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Hawkins, will you give me your word of honour as a young gentleman—for a young gentleman you are, although poor born—your word of honour not to slip your cable?

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

On the desk, among the neat array of papers, a large envelope was uppermost, and bore, in the doctor’s hand, the name of Mr. Utterson.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Phelboviruses are mosquito-borne and humans, ruminants and camels are natural hosts.

(Phlebovirus, NCI Thesaurus)

One thing comes back to my memory which may have a bearing upon the business that you two gentlemen are investigating.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Was it for this only, do you think, that I was born into the world?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

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