deal with

verb

dealt with; dealing with; deals with

1

: to be about (something) : to have (something) as a subject

Her speech dealt with health care and the nation's economy.

The film deals with some serious issues.

2

: to make business agreements with (someone)

He deals fairly with all his customers.

Their salespeople are very easy to deal with.

3

: to do something about (a person or thing that causes a problem or difficult situation)

The government dealt harshly with the rebels.

I'll deal with you later.

We weren't able/equipped/prepared to deal with such a large crowd of people.

4

: to accept or try to accept (something that is true and cannot be changed)

She's still trying to deal with his death.

The weather is bad, but we'll just have to deal with it.

Examples of deal with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Even Cleon had to deal with his much older brothers and their crew. —Chang-Rae Lee, New Yorker, 3 May 2026

OpenAI had announced a deal with the Pentagon in March to effectively replace Anthropic with ChatGPT in classified environments. —Ben Finley, Chicago Tribune, 2 May 2026

As Jeff Sanders wrote (here) on Thursday, the Padres are pondering a lot of different ways to deal with their starting pitching situation in the coming weeks. —Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 May 2026

Whether dealing with a death threat or trying to pass a bill with only minutes left in the legislative session, Looney is known for being unflappable. —Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 2 May 2026