Etymology
Origin of barbed
Explanation
Something that's barbed is sharp or spiky. Barbed wire has very sharp points at intervals along its length, to keep animals or people in (or out of) a yard. Roses are famous for their sweet blossoms and barbed stems. A fish hook is also barbed, with a sharp spike on its end. You can use barbed figuratively, to describe cruel or biting words: "Her barbed comment made it clear how angry she was after the practical joke he'd played on her." The root of barbed is the Old French word for "beard," or "something beardlike," barbe, from the Latin barba, also "beard."
Vocabulary lists containing barbed
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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Seedfolks
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This Week in Words: October 22 - 27, 2017
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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.
Peace turned out to be no less barbed with difficulties than war.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Surveillance camera footage captured Mott scaling an 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire at the perimeter of the airport in just 15 seconds, then walking across the runway.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
By figuring out how to economically mass produce barbed wire, Glidden certainly solved a problem.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
In Jhapa, soldiers with armoured trucks manned barbed wire barricades around the counting centre.
From Barron's • Mar. 7, 2026
They began replacing the barbed wire fences with permanent slabs of concrete.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
