Bring down means to reduce or lower something (prices, costs, a temperature) or to force a government or politician from power. In the first meaning, it's about numbers that have been made smaller; in the second, about losing power.
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bring down + prices/costs/a temperature; bring + it/them + down; bring down + costs + by + percentage; bring down + a government/leader
- The new supplier helped us bring down our delivery costs by almost a third.
- Drink plenty of water and take paracetamol to bring your temperature down.
- Mass protests brought down the government after only eight months.
What changed
First versionThe shop brought down prices on 20% for the holidays.
RevisionThe shop brought down prices by 20% for the holidays.
In English, the size of a change in numbers or percentages is introduced with by: bring down by 20%, rise by 5%, cut by half. On doesn't work here, so it was replaced with by.
When talking about numbers, bring down can be replaced with reduce: reduce costs = bring down costs. But when a government or politician loses power, reduce doesn't work, and you need bring down: The scandal brought down the government. Reduce the government would mean making it smaller, not removing it from power.
Your turn
The city council hopes to ___ rents by building more affordable flats.
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bring down — The council itself wants to lower rents, and the gap is followed by rents, the thing being lowered, so bring down is needed. Come down is used when prices fall on their own, with no object: Rents have finally come down.
Describe how you or your company cut some costs. Say which costs they were and how much you managed to reduce them by.
By switching to a cheaper mobile plan, I brought down my phone bill by ten pounds a month.
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