Success & failure

Bite the bullet

Make yourself do something unpleasant or difficult that you have been avoiding.

Examples

  • I finally bit the bullet and booked a dentist appointment.
  • If the old laptop keeps crashing, you'll have to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

How to use it

Informal. Often with "finally" or "just": just bite the bullet.

Where it comes from

Often traced to the practice of giving soldiers a bullet to bite on to cope with pain during surgery without anaesthetic.