bare
1 Americanadjective
-
barer,
comparative
-
barest
superlative
-
without covering or clothing; naked; nude.
bare legs.
- Synonyms:
- undressed
-
without the usual furnishings, contents, etc..
bare walls.
-
open to view; unconcealed; undisguised.
his bare dislike of neckties.
-
unadorned; bald; plain.
the bare facts.
-
(of cloth) napless or threadbare.
-
scarcely or just sufficient; mere.
the bare necessities of life.
-
Obsolete. with the head uncovered; bareheaded.
verb (used with object)
verb
adjective
-
unclothed; exposed: used esp of a part of the body
-
without the natural, conventional, or usual covering or clothing
a bare tree
-
lacking appropriate furnishings, etc
a bare room
-
unembellished; simple
the bare facts
-
(prenomial) just sufficient; mere
he earned the bare minimum
-
without a weapon or tool
verb
verb
Usage
What else does bare mean? Bare is UK slang for very or lots of.
Synonym Usage
Bare, stark, barren share the sense of lack or absence of something that might be expected. Bare, the least powerful in connotation of the three, means lack of expected or usual coverings, furnishings, or embellishments: bare floor, feet, head. Stark implies extreme severity or desolation and resultant bleakness or dreariness: a stark landscape; a stark, emotionless countenance. Barren carries a strong sense of sterility and oppressive dullness: barren fields; a barren relationship. See mere 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of bare
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English bær; cognate with Old Frisian ber, Dutch baar, Old Saxon, Old High German, German bar, Old Norse berr; akin to Armenian bok “naked,” Lithuanian bãsas, Russian bosóĭ “barefoot”
Explanation
When you kick off your shoes to walk on the beach, you are enjoying the feeling of your bare feet in the warm sand. The adjective bare describes something or someone that is naked or unclothed. Bare can be used in many different ways: to describe the inside of your nearly-empty refrigerator, an uncarpeted floor, or your unadorned, sparsely decorated bedroom. The word bare can also be used as a verb meaning "to uncover or expose." When you reveal deep truths about yourself to another person — imagine confessing your passion for stamp collecting to a girl you like — you "bare your soul."
Vocabulary lists containing bare
Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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"Mother to Son"
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Commonly Confused Words, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At least a quarter of National Football League players may end up with a degenerative brain disease, according to a new study published Tuesday that lays bare the extreme toll of America's favorite sport.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Trans comedian Jordan Gray is extremely unafraid to bare it all, including her soul, when behind the piano.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
That said, a bare message that simply states, "I'm out of office" with no details of a return date or alternative emails to try, can raise more questions than it answers.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Related: ‘Her bank accounts were stripped bare by Medicaid’: My late friend had $20,000 in credit-card debt.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
To his right was what looked like a throne carved out of stone surrounded by bare thornbushes.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
The album’s indictments of America’s failures are no different from his songs like “Pink Houses,” but their messages are barer and nearly impossible to misinterpret.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
"All around me staff are leaving, staff are crying... many people are already voting with their feet and leaving. But of course that just strips the service even barer."
From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2022
A glacier can provide some protection, preserving piles of snow year-round that can even be deployed on barer ski pistes elsewhere on the slopes.
From Reuters ● Aug. 27, 2021
Rather than making collective progress on dealing with the virus, the contours of our inability to do so are being laid, somehow, barer.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2020
Just as in Switzerland the gables of the chalets match the pine-clad slopes and lofty summits of the mountains, so in Greece, amid barer hills of less elevation, the Greek temple looks thoroughly in place.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4 "Grasshopper" to "Greek Language" by Various
If this familiar-looking advice seems like the barest minimum in modern cybersecurity hygiene, that’s because it is.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
Pearl diving often relied on the barest necessities: a noseclip, leather finger covers and a basket to gather oysters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
MarketWatch Picks: My Social Security benefits ‘were cut to the barest minimum’ after I retired.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
This locks in the legitimacy of its Christmas entertainment designation by the barest of definition.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2024
Ophie reached for the small packet of salt and the iron nail in her pocket and nodded, the barest movement.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
The pages capture the inner thoughts of someone who found himself at the center of history, as if Oppenheimer grabbed a pen and bared his soul during the Manhattan Project.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026
But in her four memoirs, she safely bared all in print, openly confronting her harsh inner critic, her battle with bulimia, and — yes, Alvy — her musings on death.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2025
In a hotly-contested race, teeth were occasionally bared and there was some jostling for position in the closing sprint.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2025
Many of the women wept as Francis washed their feet, gently pouring water over one bared foot and patting it dry with a small towel.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2024
Eddie leaned forward and bared his teeth like a skeleton.
From "I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980" by Lauren Tarshis
Dog owners are baring their teeth on social media after the European Union's top court ruled that pets are not passengers just baggage if they get lost in transit.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025
By baring these women's realities - and their romantic desires - Latey cemented its place as the "content of its times", producer Metasebia Yoseph tells the BBC.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2025
Murray wasn’t worried about baring his abs for the film — it was the dancing that terrified him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2024
The joy of reaching the final, and in the manner he did it, was shown by Norrie baring his teeth and shouting his pleasure towards his team.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2024
She tried to smile, but it felt more like she was baring her teeth at her friend, a warning signal to stay away.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
