English · Idiom Attested

bite the bullet

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To force yourself to do something unpleasant or difficult that you have been putting off.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

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Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: To clench a bullet between your teeth.

Describing a hard decision finally being faced.

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

The car kept breaking down, so we bit the bullet and bought a new one.

Editorial example (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Common questions

What does “bite the bullet” mean?

To force yourself to do something unpleasant or difficult that you have been putting off. Literally: To clench a bullet between your teeth.

Is “bite the bullet” formal or informal?

bite the bullet is generally neutral; connotation: resolute.

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