brunt
/bɹʌnt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/bɹʊnt/
brunt noun: the full adverse effects; the chief consequences or negative results of a thing or event.
Noun
brunt (plural brunts)
- The full adverse effects; the chief consequences or negative results of a thing or event.
- 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...1862, Arthur Young, John Chalmers Morton, The Farmer's Calendar
- The force or shock of an attack in war.
- The major part of something; the bulk.
- If you feel tired of walking, just think of the poor donkey who has carried the brunt of our load.
- A violent attack or charge in battle.
- 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.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- Tech[elles]. I heare them come, ſhall wee encounter them?
- A sudden harmful onset or attack (of disease, unbelief, persecution, etc.).
- A spurt, a sudden effort or straining.
Verb
brunt (third-person singular simple present brunts, present participle brunting, simple past and past participle brunted)
- To bear the brunt of; to weather or withstand.
- "… 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.1859, George Meredith, chapter 7, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC
- "… I say." Ripton resumed the serious intonation, "do you think they'll ever suspect us?"
- To make a violent attack or charge.
Proper noun capitalized: Brunt
Brunt (plural Brunts)
- A surname.
brunt meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Arabic
brunt in Tamil
- எதிர்மறை விளைவுகள்
brunt in Bengali
- মূল আঘাত, ধাক্কা
brunt in Malayalam
- അടിയുടെ ആഘാതം
brunt in Arabic
- major part of something
- جُلّ jull, مُعْظَم muʕẓam, أَكْثَر ʔakṯar
Examples of brunt in a sentence
- Jankowicz, 33, bore the brunt of the attacks, a subject she knows well.
- It's no secret that transgender women absorb the brunt of hate that comes from femmephobia.
- “So as a result, we are receiving the brunt of the hostility.
Forms of brunt
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | brunts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | brunts |
| present participle | brunting |
| past participle | brunted |
| past | brunted |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Brunts |
Origin of brunt
From Middle English brunt, bront (“sudden onset, attack, charge, blow”), from Old Norse brundr or brundtíð (“oestrus, rut”) (from Proto-Germanic *brunstiz), or bruna (“to rush”, literally “to advance like wildfire”) (see brenna).
* As an English surname, from placenames derived from the adjective burnt. Compare Brent. * As an Irish surname, variant of Prunty. * As a Dutch surname, possibly a variant of Bruns.
Words formed from brunt
Phrases with brunt
Words that rhyme with brunt
Questions about brunt
- What does brunt mean?
- Brunt means the full adverse effects; the chief consequences or negative results of a thing or event.
- What is brunt in Tamil?
- Brunt in Tamil is எதிர்மறை விளைவுகள். See Brunt meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is brunt?
- Brunt can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce brunt?
- Brunt is pronounced /bɹʌnt/.
- What is the plural of brunt?
- The plural of brunt is brunts.
Words near brunt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brunt (page history and authors); Brunt (page history and authors); brunt (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brunt (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brunt (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-brunt.ogg.
Cite this entry: “brunt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brunt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.