bear on

English

Verb

bear on (third-person singular simple present bears on, present participle bearing on, simple past bore on, past participle borne on)

To influence, have an effect on.
To be relevant to.
That ruling bears on our application.
- 1905, Basil Hall Chamberlain, Things Japanese, Introductory Chapter:
  In order to enable the reader to supply deficiencies and to form his own opinions, if haply he should be of so unusual a turn of mind as to desire so to do, we have, at the end of almost every article, indicated the names of trustworthy works bearing on the subject treated in that article.
To harm, hinder or be a burden upon.
- 1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 71:
  In the days when men changed their skins and lived for ever, the permanence of property in the same hands was found to be a great inconvenience; it bore very hard on the heirs, who were perpetually tantalized by the prospect of an inheritance to which it was legally and physically impossible that they should ever succeed.

Synonyms

bear upon; See also Thesaurus:pertain

Anagrams

Barone, Borean, aborne, borane