bearish

adjective

bear·​ish ˈber-ish How to pronounce bearish (audio)
1
: resembling a bear in build or in roughness, gruffness, or surliness
a bearish man
2
a
: marked by, tending to cause, or fearful of falling prices (as in a stock market)
bearish investors
bearishly adverb
bearishness noun

Examples of bearish in a Sentence

The market has been bearish lately. some studio execs are bearish about this summer's box office
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Just a month ago, positioning in U.S. equities and the dollar was the most bearish since at least 2014, per Jefferies’ data. Catherine Baab, Quartz, 14 May 2025 The bearish or negative divergence has been closely monitored, as in my A/D line analysis, a drop below support at line c would have forecasted a sharper decline. Tom Aspray, Forbes.com, 10 May 2025 As a result, overall investment sentiment remains bearish, according to the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), whose regular survey most recently showed that expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months increased 3.7 percentage points to 59.3%. Rob Wile, NBC news, 4 May 2025 The latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors showed that for the past eight weeks, more than 50% of respondents have been bearish on the US stock market. John Towfighi, CNN Money, 24 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for bearish

Word History

First Known Use

1607, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of bearish was in 1607

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Cite this Entry

“Bearish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bearish. Accessed 22 May. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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