acarrear
verbCEFR B2
What does “acarrear” mean in English?
to bring about, to cause
to bring about, to cause (acarrear consecuencias / problemas — conveying that a decision or action will produce unwanted or serious downstream effects; formal register)
Example sentences
Adoptar esa medida sin un debate previo acarrearía consecuencias graves para la cohesión del grupo.
Adopting that measure without prior debate would bring serious consequences for the cohesion of the group.
Las reformas apresuradas suelen acarrear más problemas de los que pretenden resolver.
Rushed reforms tend to bring with them more problems than they set out to solve.
How to use it
Acarrear means 'to bring with it', 'to entail', 'to carry (consequences)' — specifically for negative or costly consequences. The key frame is 'acarrear + noun (consequences, problems, risks)': acarrear consecuencias, acarrear problemas, acarrear costes. It is stronger in its negative valence than 'conllevar' (carry with it, neutral) or 'implicar' (entail, neutral). When a speaker chooses acarrear, they are framing the outcome as a burden or harm — it is a rhetorical move that pre-loads the consequence as negative. It cannot easily take a que-clause; the consequence must be a noun.
Common mistake
Acarrear is not neutral — it signals that the consequence is a burden or cost. Use 'conllevar' for neutral entailment. Also: acarrear cannot take a que-clause (*acarrea que + subjunctive is non-standard) — the consequence must always be expressed as a noun. English 'entail' does not carry the same negative loading that acarrear does.