The Phrasal Verb 'Bring Down' Explained
- Apr 17
- 11 min read
Updated: Apr 19
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'bring down' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
This post is all about the English phrasal verb 'bring down'. This nice little phrasal verb can be used to talk about a variety of different subjects including reductions, sadness, sport and airplanes. In this post, I will explain all 6 different ways to use it and give you lots of example sentences for each usage. In addition, I will give you a couple of idiomatic expressions with it that native speakers use all the time. So, let's get started and find out what 'bring down' is all about....
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THE BASICS
BRING DOWN: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 6 |
Past tense forms | Brought down / Brought down |
Separable? | Yes |
The words 'bring' and 'down' are both very common words in English but what do they mean on their own? Let's quickly take a look at these before we continue on to the meanings that we get when we combine them....
Bring - We use the verb 'to bring' in a number of different ways in English, with perhaps the main common meaning being to transport something with you one from one place to another, towards where the speaker is, was or will be. Another very common meaning of the verb 'to bring' (and one that is essential for this phrasal verb) is 'to cause someone or something to be in a specific situation'. 'To bring' is an irregular verb, with 'brought' as both its past tense forms.
Bring me a glass of water!
My friend is bringing his new girlfriend to the party later.
Are you bringing a guest to the wedding next week?
I forgot to bring my laptop home with me.
The movie brought me to tears.
Down - The prepositional particle 'down' is one that features in many phrasal verbs and can add various different ideas to them, depending on the context. Perhaps most obviously when 'down' appears in a phrasal verb it can add the idea of a downward movement or an decrease (go down). In addition to this, it can also add ideas like suppression (calm down), writing (note down), failure (break down) and finality (shut down) among others.
So, now that we have looked the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'bring down'....
MEANING 1: Literal
CEFR Language Level | A1 - Beginner |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To take down |
Separable? | Yes |
We will start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'bring down' by looking at the literal meaning of the combination of these two words.
When used in the literal sense, 'bring down' simply means to transport something with you from a high or elevated place to a lower one. This may be something like bringing an object from an upper floor of a building to a lower one, or bringing an injured skier from the top of a mountain to the valley floor to get treatment.
On a grammatical note, this literal usage is separable and the object can go between 'bring' and 'down' or after them with no change in meaning.
Nigel carefully brought down the boxes from the top shelf.
Thelma brought a suitcase down from the attic.
Can you bring that ladder down for me?
They brought the old furniture down from upstairs.
I’ll bring down your coat when I come downstairs.
Steven brought down the books from his bedroom.
Marian went upstairs and brought a blanket down for the guests.
TO BRING VS TO TAKEMany English learners often confuse the verb 'to bring' with the verb 'to take' and while they essentially mean the same thing, there is a difference in their usage. We use 'to bring' to talk about a movement towards where the speaker is or where the speaker was or will be. In contrast, 'to take' is used more to refer to transporting an object away from where the speaker is or to a place where the speaker was not or will not be. |
MEANING 2: To reduce something
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To reduce, to decrease, to lower, |
Separable? | Yes |
As I mentioned earlier in the post, the particle 'down' is often used to refer to decreases and reductions and this second application of 'bring down' is a good example of that because it means 'to reduce something'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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For this usage, we are concerned with situations in which we do something in order to reduce the level or rate of something. In other words, we want the number of something to be lower than it is and therefore we do something in order to make this happen.
Classic examples of this application can be found in the world of business and commerce when talking about prices and taxes, which people can decide to reduce or bring down for various reasons.
Another environment in which you may hear this application is in the medical world as 'bring down' can often be used to describe when medical professionals intervene in a patient's care in order to bring down their high blood pressure, heart rate or temperature.
The new management managed to bring down the cost of production.
The company brought its prices down during the sale.
We need to bring down our monthly expenses.
The government is working hard to bring down inflation.
New measures helped to bring unemployment rates down.
This medication can bring down your blood pressure.
They are trying to bring down the number of accidents on this road.
The company is aiming to bring its carbon emissions down.
Note that we do not normally use 'bring down' to talk about when the rate or level or something decreases on its own without intervention. To do this, the phrasal verb 'come down' (link here) would be used.
MEANING 3: To depress someone
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To depress, to sadden |
Separable? | Yes |
Our third application of 'bring down' is the negative one (there is always one) and means 'to depress someone' or 'to lower someone's mood'.
If you think about your mood, rather than being a binary choice between good and bad, it is more on a scale that constantly moves between the two. When we are happy and content (as I hope all of you reading this are), we can say that we are in a good mood, however for most of us it can only take something small to change our mood and push it towards the bad end of the spectrum.
When this happens, we can say that something 'brings us down'. The idea here is that when we are in a good mood, we associate it with a feeling of being high and when we are in a bad mood, we talk about being down.
You should note here that this usage tends to be used more for when something makes you feel sad, depressed or less positive rather than anger or irritation. Moreover, in addition to one person's mood, it is also possible to use this to talk about when something brings down the collective mood or atmosphere in a social situation where lots of people are present. It could even be used to talk about the national mood or feeling in a country.
Grammatically, this is a separable usage and is used often with pronouns (me, him, her etc), which must go between 'bring' and 'down'.
All this negative news is really bringing me down.
Don’t let one bad comment bring you down!
The gloomy weather is starting to bring everyone down.
Thinking about the past sometimes brings him down.
He always talks about problems; it really brings down the mood at parties.
The constant criticism is starting to bring her down emotionally.
Financial worries have really brought us down lately.
He didn’t mean to bring things down, but the topic was quite heavy.
MEANING 4: To make something fall to the ground
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To take down, to knock over, to knock down |
Separable? | Yes |
The next application of the phrasal verb 'bring down' that we will cover is one that has the potential to be a little violent and means 'to make something fall to the ground'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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In certain contexts in English, the word 'down' can be used as an adjective to describe something that is has fallen and has landed on the ground. For example, if a tree falls in very strong wind, we can say that a tree is 'down'. This usage is very important for this application as it simply means to cause something to fall to the ground. There are several different areas in which we use this, so let's take them one by one....
In contact sports such as football, rugby or boxing this usage is very common to describe when one player tackles, pushes or hits another player and makes them fall on the ground. In this sense, it is very common to use it in the passive sense, with the focus on the player who is on the ground.
The defender brought him down just outside the penalty area.
Kelly was brought down by a late tackle, preventing her from scoring the goal.
The boxer was brought down by a single punch.
We can also use 'bring down' in this sense to talk about things that can be knocked over or can collapse and fall to the ground as a result of a force, including nouns like buildings, trees and fences. This is often used to talk about the consequences of strong and powerful forces like bad weather, explosions or war.
The storm brought down several large trees overnight.
The earthquake brought down dozens of houses.
The fire weakened the structure and brought it down.
Workers are planning to bring down the wall tomorrow.
The final area that in which you may hear this application being used is in reference to things that fly, both living and non-living. Typically, if someone shoots and kills or injures a bird or animal, we can say that they brought it down. Note that we can also use this for non-flying animals. Likewise, if an airplane crashes, it is possible to say that it was brought down by whatever caused the crash. More information on airplanes to come shortly!
The hunter brought down a duck with a single shot.
He managed to bring down a deer after a long chase.
The missile brought down the enemy plane.
Bad weather nearly brought the helicopter down.
MEANING 5: To land
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To land |
Separable? | Yes |
For the next application, we are going to stay with the theme of airplanes but this time in a more cheerful sense as it simply means 'to land' or in other words 'to cause an airplane to descend through the sky until it is safely on the ground'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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In this sense, 'bring down' means the same as the verb 'to land', however we do not tend to use it in the same situations. While we tend to use the verb 'to land' to talk about standard landings at airports etc, 'bring down' is used to describe situations in which an airplane comes safely down to the ground but with a sense of difficulty or emergency or when something is unexpected or not normal.
The focus here is more on the hard work and skill of the pilot who successfully lands the airplane in the non-standard circumstances and not the landing itself.
The pilot skilfully brought the plane down on a short runway.
She managed to bring the aircraft down safely despite poor visibility.
Joe calmly brought the plane down after a warning light came on.
Sebastian brought the helicopter down in thick fog.
Despite the icy runway, Melissa brought the plane down without any issues.
The crew brought the aircraft down safely after a bird strike.
Edward brought the plane down using only manual controls.
MEANING 6: To cause someone to lose power
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To oust, to topple, to overthrow, to depose |
Separable? | Yes |
We have now arrived at our sixth and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'bring down' and this one is a good one for all of your revolutionaries out there as it means 'to cause someone to lose power'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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When we talk about someone or something being brought down in this final sense, we are focusing on things like governments and regimes that hold power over people and control what they do. If someone or something brings them down, it makes them lose their power, much like in a revolution or putsch. It doesn't just cover regimes and administrations however as it can also be used for individual people who are in positions of power.
While this is also a separable usage, I would say that we tend to use this application in an inseparable way more.
The scandal eventually brought down the government.
The opposition is trying to bring down the prime minister.
Public protests helped bring down the regime.
The vote of no confidence brought down the administration.
The investigation could bring down several high-profile figures.
One mistake was enough to bring the entire company down.
This lawsuit might bring down the corporation.
One other way that you may come across this application is in reference to competitions and sport as it can also mean 'to defeat'. This is normally used with the leaders or current champions of a sport or a team / player viewed as being superior.
It will take a strong performance to bring down the current champion.
No team has managed to bring them down this season yet.
Alfie is determined to bring down his biggest rival.
The underdog team finally brought down the league leaders.
BONUS: Common idioms featuring the phrasal verb 'bring down'
So now after reading all of the different meanings that 'bring down' has, you will have a pretty good idea of how and when to use it and to finish the post, I want to give you a couple of expressions featuring it to really maximise your expertise....
To bring the house down - Although this expression looks like it means something negative and destructive, it actually is a very positive one and means 'to cause an audience to clap and cheer very loudly to show their appreciation for a performance'. In other words, if a performance is so good that all of the people watching it react in a loud and positive way, you can say that the performance "brought the house down".
This expression originated from the idea that if the reaction of the crowd to a performance was very loud or thunderous, it could make the building fall down.
The comedian absolutely brought the house down with his final joke.
Her performance was incredible; she brought the house down and got a standing ovation.
To bring someone down a peg or two - The second of our two idioms featuring 'bring down' means to make someone realise that they are not as good or talented as they think they are. This one is typically used when someone is acting in an arrogant or self-important way and if you can bring them down a peg or two, it is quite a satisfying feeling 😊
Emily was always boasting about her success, but that mistake really brought her down a peg or two.
Lucas was getting a bit too confident, so the coach’s criticism really brought him down a peg or two.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'bring down'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'bring down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END
Hello James, thank you for this important post, I always enjoy your didactical explanations! Best MLucas