Bearing Meaning
/ˈbɛə̯ɹɪŋ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbpresent participle and gerund of bear
adjThat bears (some specified thing).
Sentence Examples
Bearing can be unbearable.
Your conduct is beyond bearing.
All over the world there are red and white paper cups bearing the company logo.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The compass ____ pointed exactly north, guiding the hikers through the forest.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He had a noble ____ that made him stand out in the whole of the crowd.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English beringe, berynge, berende, berande, berand, from Old English berende (“bearing; fruitful”) (also as synonym Old English bǣrende), from Proto-Germanic *berandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *beraną (“to bear; carry”), equivalent to bear + -ing.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages, together with the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account of longitudes and latitudes; [...]"
— 1726 October 28, Richard Sympson [pseudonym], [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV), page X:
"But of this frame, the bearings and the ties, / The strong connections, nice dependencies."
— 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
"I know him by his bearing."
— 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
"The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were."
— 2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution, The Center for International Security and Cooperation:
"[…]when the French seized Malta they were by no means so delicate. They effaced armorial bearings with their usual hot-headed eagerness; and a few years after they had torn down the coats of arms of the gentry, the heroes of Malta and Egypt were busy devising heraldry for themselves, and were wild to be barons and counts of the empire."
— 1846, Mr. M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; W. M. Thackeray], chapter VIII, in Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo […] , London: Chapman and Hall, page 140:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The compass ____ pointed exactly north, guiding the hikers through the forest.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He had a noble ____ that made him stand out in the whole of the crowd.