What does 'bring about' mean in a work meeting?

'Bring about' means to cause or start a change. When someone says 'this will bring about improvements,' they mean the action will cause improvements to happen.

Is 'bring about' formal or casual?

'Bring about' works in both formal and casual settings. You can use it in a standup, Slack message, or a formal report. It sounds professional but not stiff.

Can I use 'bring about' for negative things?

'Bring about' is usually used for significant changes, often positive ones. For negative outcomes like bugs, it's more natural to say 'cause' or 'lead to.'

What is the difference between 'bring about' and 'cause'?

'Cause' is more direct and works for anything. 'Bring about' sounds slightly more formal and is often used for bigger or more important changes.

How do I use 'bring about' in past tense?

The past tense is 'brought about.' Example: 'The new architecture brought about significant performance gains.'

Can I say 'bring about a bug'?

It's grammatically correct but sounds unnatural. 'Bring about' is usually for important outcomes. For bugs, say 'cause a bug' or 'introduce a bug' instead.

What Does "Bring About" Mean at Work?

Commonness
Versatility
Formality	CasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ Written	SpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ Diplomatic	DirectDiplomaticNeutral
Region

Say it like this

✓This refactor will bring about better performance.

✓The new process brought about a lot of positive changes.

✓What brought about the decision to change frameworks?

✓We hope this sprint will bring about the improvements we need.

✓The migration brought about some unexpected issues.

Real examples

Standup

"The new caching layer should bring about faster load times."

Slack message

"Heads up: this config change will bring about a few minutes of downtime."

GitHub PR

"This PR brings about a cleaner separation between the UI and API layers."

Jira ticket

"Goal: Bring about a 20% reduction in page load time."

Retrospective

"What brought about the delays we saw last sprint?"

Sprint planning

"We expect this feature to bring about higher user engagement."

Pair programming

"Let's see if this approach brings about the fix we need."

Don't say this

✕We need to bring about the meeting.

✓We need to set up the meeting.— 'Bring about' is for changes or results, not for scheduling events.

✕This will bring about a bug.

✓This will cause a bug.— 'Bring about' is typically used for positive or significant outcomes, not small issues. Use 'cause' for bugs.

✕I brought about the code yesterday.

✓I finished the code yesterday.— 'Bring about' means to cause change, not to complete a task.

Other forms

base form

bring about

"This update will bring about improvements."

past simple

brought about

"The migration brought about some issues."

present continuous

bringing about

"We are bringing about a major change."

past participle

brought about

"Changes have been brought about by the new policy."

Often used with

bring about changeThe most common collocation — causing a change.

bring about improvementUsed when something makes things better.

bring about resultsWhen actions lead to outcomes.

bring about a shiftUsed for bigger, more significant changes.

bring about transformationFor major, large-scale changes.

Similar words

causeMore direct and simple. Works for both good and bad outcomes.

lead toSimilar meaning but focuses on the connection between action and result.

result inEmphasizes the outcome more than the action.

triggerOften used for starting automatic processes or sudden changes.

produceMore common in technical writing about outputs.

Opposites

preventstopblockhinderavoid

Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Choose the most natural sentence

1. Which sentence sounds most natural for a sprint planning meeting?

This feature will bring about better user retention.This feature will bring about a meeting.This feature will bring about the code.

Spot the mistake

2. Find the sentence with incorrect usage:

The refactor brought about cleaner code.We brought about the standup at 10am.This policy change will bring about better security.

Fill in the blank

3. The database optimization _____ a 30% speed improvement.

Rewrite this sentence

4. The new testing strategy made our release cycle faster. (Use 'bring about')

More words

lead to result in cause implement roll out ship deploy

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "bring about" in a standup this week?

Want more structured practice like this? Our English for Programmers course covers real workplace English in depth.

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