Meaning & Origin

“Bury the axe” means to stop fighting and make peace — to put past grievances behind you. It’s a variant of “bury the hatchet,” an expression that traces to ceremonial peacemaking where weapons were literally buried to mark the end of hostilities.

Pronunciation Guide

• bury — sounds like “BEH‑ree.”
• the — often “thuh” before a consonant.
• axe — same as “ax.”
• Natural rhythm: BUR‑y the AXE.

Usage & Sentence Examples

Use it when people decide to end a dispute and reconcile.

• Let’s bury the axe and get this launch over the line.
• The teams buried the axe after agreeing on shared metrics.
• Neighbors finally buried the axe over the parking issue.
• We should bury the axe with support and start fresh.
• They buried the axe and signed a new partnership.
• It’s time to bury the axe — the market won’t wait.

Synonyms

bury the hatchet · make peace · call a truce · patch things up · let bygones be bygones · reconcile