bare

¹

[ bair ]

adjective

, bar·er, bar·est.

1. without covering or clothing; naked; nude:

   bare legs.

   Synonyms: undressed

2. without the usual furnishings, contents, etc.:

   bare walls.

   Synonyms: barren, empty, stark, plain

3. open to view; unconcealed; undisguised:

   his bare dislike of neckties.

4. unadorned; bald; plain:

   the bare facts.

5. (of cloth) napless or threadbare.
6. scarcely or just sufficient; mere:

   the bare necessities of life.

7. Obsolete. with the head uncovered; bareheaded.

verb (used with object)

, bared, bar·ing.

1. to open to view; reveal or divulge:

   to bare one's arms; to bare damaging new facts.

   Synonyms: expose, uncover

bare

²

[ bair ]

verb

, Archaic.

1. simple past tense of bear ¹.

bare

¹

/ bɛə /

verb

1. See bear
   archaic.
   a past tense of bear 1

bare

²

/ bɛə /

adjective

1. unclothed; exposed: used esp of a part of the body
2. without the natural, conventional, or usual covering or clothing

   a bare tree

3. lacking appropriate furnishings, etc

   a bare room

4. unembellished; simple

   the bare facts

5. prenomial just sufficient; mere

   he earned the bare minimum

6. with one's bare hands
   with one's bare hands without a weapon or tool

verb

1. tr to make bare; uncover; reveal

Derived Forms

• ˈbareness, noun

Other Words From

• barish adjective
• bareness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bare¹

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bare¹

Old English bær ; compare Old Norse berr , Old High German bar naked, Old Slavonic bosǔ barefoot

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

This year, a bare-bones welfare program will continue into the New Year without being updated.

From The Daily Beast

“Bare [sic] with me on vlogmas,” she told her fans in a Tweet.

From The Daily Beast

The further forward bare-boned science goes, however, the more forceful the counter- response.

From The Daily Beast

Houses were evacuated and stripped bare, and civilians vanished at the sight of a truck.

From The Daily Beast

The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates for infants to be put to sleep in a bare crib to prevent SIDS.

From The Daily Beast

Eggs and nestlings were found lying on the bare soil at the inner ends of the burrows; no nesting material was found.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes the stems are quite bare; on other occasions they are partly branched; in any case the branches are short.

From Project Gutenberg

She thrust a bare, white arm from the curtain which shielded her open door, and received the cup from his hands.

From Project Gutenberg

From Canada on the north, to Texas on the south, the hot winds had laid the land seemingly bare.

From Project Gutenberg

Her little neck and arms were bare, and her hair, artificially crimped, stood out like fluffy black plumes over her head.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• divulge
• expose
• uncover