Meaning

The full adverse effects; the chief consequences or negative results of a thing or event..

Definitions by Sense

1. The full adverse effects; the chief consequences or negative results of a thing or event.
2. The force or shock of an attack in war.
3. The major part of something; the bulk.
4. (obsolete) A violent attack or charge in battle.
5. (obsolete, by extension) A sudden harmful onset or attack (of disease, unbelief, persecution, etc.).
6. (obsolete) A spurt, a sudden effort or straining.
7. (transitive, rare) To bear the brunt of; to weather or withstand.
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To make a violent attack or charge.

Example Sentences

Unfortunately, poor areas such as those in New Orleans bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina’s winds.

There is an economy in the matter of breakages and repairs, for if the plough should be brought up upon a landfast rock, instead of the brunt coming simply on the draught rope, which would either snap or pull the framework of the plough to pieces, it is, through the pull of the one drum upon the other, immediately spread all over the field wherever the rope goes […]

Though the storm raged up the East Coast, it has become increasingly apparent that New Jersey took the brunt of it.

If you feel tired of walking, just think of the poor donkey who has carried the brunt of our load.

Tech[elles]. I heare them come, ſhall wee encounter them? Tam[burlaine]. Keep all your ſtandings, and not ſtir a foot, Myſelfe will bide the danger of the brunt.

"… I say." Ripton resumed the serious intonation, "do you think they'll ever suspect us?" "What if they do? We must brunt it." We brunted the storm.

Word Forms

• brunts
• brunting
• brunted

Related Words

When Should You Use Brunt?

Use brunt when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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