To embrace something fully, to commit to it wholeheartedly, or to physically tilt toward something.
Accept something and use it to your advantage instead of avoiding it, or push your body into something.
2 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
To fully accept and commit to something, often a difficult situation or an aspect of yourself, turning it to your advantage.
"When the critics called his style strange, he decided to lean into it and make it his signature."
To press or tilt your body weight against something.
"He leaned into the wind as he walked across the exposed hilltop."
To lean (press or tilt your body) into (against something).
Accept something and use it to your advantage instead of avoiding it, or push your body into something.
The figurative sense has grown rapidly in recent years and is common in motivational, business, and pop culture contexts. It means to stop resisting something (a challenge, a quality, a change) and instead to fully commit to it. Also used literally for a physical leaning motion.
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Listen to native speakers using "lean into" in real YouTube videos — click a clip to watch it on Looplines.
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