bring down

Meaning

In commercial and business contexts, 'bring down' means to reduce the level, rate, price, or quantity of something. It can also refer to causing a government, organization, or powerful figure to fall or lose power.

Examples

• Our primary goal this quarter is to bring down production costs by ten percent.

  Our primary goal this quarter is to bring down production costs by ten percent.

• The central bank raised interest rates to help bring down inflation.

  The central bank raised interest rates to help bring down inflation.

• We need to find a cheaper supplier if we want to bring down the retail price.

  We need to find a cheaper supplier if we want to bring down the retail price.

• The financial scandal eventually brought down the company's chief executive.

  The financial scandal eventually brought down the company's chief executive.

• Automating these manual processes will help bring down our operational overhead.

  Automating these manual processes will help bring down our operational overhead.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We must bring down of the prices.

  ✓ We must bring down the prices.

  Do not put 'of' between 'bring down' and the noun it modifies. The phrase functions as a direct transitive verb.

• ✗ The bad economy brought down to our profits.

  ✓ The bad economy brought down our profits.

  Avoid inserting 'to' after 'bring down' when specifying the metric or object being reduced.

Related Expressions

Practice

• We are negotiating with our vendors to ___ the cost of raw materials.

  💡 reduce or lower

  Show answer

  bring down

• A series of bad investments ultimately ___ the entire investment firm.

  💡 caused to fail (past tense)

  Show answer

  brought down