barefoot
Americanadjective
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Also barefooted. with the feet bare.
a barefoot boy;
to walk barefoot.
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Carpentry. (of a post or stud) secured to a sill or the like without mortising.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of barefoot
before 1000; Middle English barfot, Old English bærfōt. See bare 1, foot
Explanation
When you're barefoot, you're not wearing any shoes or socks. It might feel good to walk barefoot on a sandy beach on a warm day, but just don't try entering a restaurant barefoot. Some kids might spend the whole summer barefoot, walking down sidewalks with their sneakers in their hands, and if you're a lifeguard or a professional gymnast, you get to be barefoot at work. The Old English root of barefoot is bærfot, combining bær, "naked" or "uncovered," with fot, "foot."
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.
He might simply have alerted the local authorities to a feral, barefoot witch roaming his property.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
He goes barefoot or puts on his dress shoes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
"We walked barefoot and we didn't carry anything with us, just our children," she told me.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
This is the supposedly pristine island that Ivanka had hiked up barefoot.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
I was barefoot, and Barack was in flip-flops.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
