phrasal verb · formal
bring to a head
/brɪŋ tə ə hɛd/BRING·to·a·HEAD
task2speaking
to cause a situation to reach a critical or decisive point
Examples
“The dispute was brought to a head after months of negotiations.”
“Rising unemployment has brought the debate about welfare to a head.”
“The crisis was brought to a head when the company announced mass layoffs.”
Band 8 sentence
“Years of unresolved grievances were finally brought to a head by the sudden budget cuts.”
Collocations
- bring a conflict/crisis/debate to a head
Word family
bring to a head verbbrought to a head verb (past)bringing to a head verb
Common mistakes
bring to head→bring to a head
bring to head point→bring to a head
Say it for a higher band
5escalate→6intensify→7+bring to a head
Synonyms
bring to a climax
Easily confused
escalate
“Tensions escalated over several weeks.”
Related words
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