bear fruit
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Have good results.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I think we might well we could be in a cul - de - sac here or a discussion which er could cease to bear any fruit very rapidly.
Despite the aridities of scholastic philosophy, Hobbes did think that, over the centuries, the seeds of natural reason had borne some fruit.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “bear fruit” mean?
Have good results.
Is “bear fruit” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.