barber
noun
a person whose occupation it is to cut and dress the hair of customers, especially men, and to shave or trim the beard.
barber
1 American
[bahr-ber]
/ ˈbɑr bər /
noun
-
barbers
plural
-
a person whose occupation it is to cut and dress the hair of customers, especially men, and to shave or trim the beard.
verb (used with object)
-
barbers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
barbered,
past participle, past
-
barbering
present participle
Barber
2
American
[bahr-ber]
/ ˈbɑr bər /
noun
barber
1
British
/ ˈbɑːbə /
noun
verb
-
to cut the hair of
-
to shave or trim the beard of
Barber
2
British
/ ˈbɑːbə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
barbersimple
-
barberssimple
-
have barberedperfect
-
has barberedperfect
-
am barberingprogressive
-
are barberingprogressive
-
is barberingprogressive
-
have been barberingperfect progressive
-
has been barberingperfect progressive
Past
-
barberedsimple
-
had barberedperfect
-
was barberingprogressive
-
were barberingprogressive
-
had been barberingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of barber
1275–1325; Middle English barbour < Anglo-French; Old French barbeor, equivalent to barb ( e ) (< Latin barba beard) + -eor < Latin -ātōr- -ator
Explanation
A barber is a person whose job is cutting hair in a barbershop. Your barber might have a tendency to cut your hair a little shorter than you like. When you visit a barbershop, you sit in a special chair while the barber cuts your hair with scissors or electric clippers. Men are the most common customers of a barber, although women can also get their hair cut by barbers. Barber comes from the Anglo-French word barbour, which is rooted in the Latin word for "beard," barb. Early barbers were certified not only to cut hair, but to perform surgery and dentistry as well.
Vocabulary lists containing barber
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:
The highs and lows of vibrant urban life are on display in scenes of a roadside barber and a subway arrest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“I’m frustrated there is nobody building the art gallery, the music room, the barber shop, the bowling alley or the hotel,” Shriver said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
"So, we all started to panic; some people jumped out of windows, and some ran outside," the 31-year-old barber told AFP as he stroked his mother's leg under her hospital blanket.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
The partnership with the barber was short-lived, however, and when Johnson went to a bank to try to borrow $250 to start a company, he was turned down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The barber Robert Horton was a deacon in his church.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
"For anybody who studies pathogenic bacteria, it's always in the back of our minds that antibiotics are one of the most important breakthroughs in medicine in the 20th century," Barber said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
He cut hair at Joe’s Barber Shop in Inglewood when not traveling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Sid Gumbrell, who runs Clean Cuts Barber Shop, in Guildford in Surrey, is hosting the event from 09:00 BST to 17:00 on Sunday.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
Barber will be able to have her fun on the return journey, too.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Not even strawberry ice cream could lure her away from the radio when Red Barber was broadcasting the latest adventure of de Bums.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
His daughter says the 57-year-old also has a touch of vanity, insisting on visiting Korean barbers whom he believed styled his hair the best.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
It also turns its gaze to those assigned to the lower rungs of the colonial social order - dancing girls, agricultural labourers, barbers and snake charmers.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
Last year, three barbers in Kunar province were jailed for three to five months for breaching the ministry's rules, according to a UN report.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
“Carson is a working-class community of janitors, barbers, bus drivers and longshoremen,” said attorney Gary Praglin of the Santa Monica-based law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
I could not bring you, but I have no problem telling you what I saw—the entire diaspora around me—hustlers, lawyers, Kappas, busters, doctors, barbers, Deltas, drunkards, geeks, and nerds.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Trees barbered to resemble incense pots and traditional Yemeni daggers.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 7, 2021
It’s a big American story that rolls across barbered lawns and then leaves you stranded in some all-night Sam’s Club of the soul.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2018
For now at least this England team can get on with presenting itself to the world, laid out in its splendid new-build sarcophagus, shaved and barbered, newly suited, eyes glazed with entropic reverie.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2012
Coaches who have barbered the rulebook like Edward Scissorhands look upon Calipari with a weird mixture of awe and disdain.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2010
Even for the first day, he was almost suspiciously well barbered.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Social media has been "massive" for the barbering industry, says dad-of-three Alsanawi, whose Instagram is filled with videos of him giving players including England vice-captain Declan Rice fresh trims.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Oasis Restore was hailed as a "revolution in youth justice", where young offenders were given one-on-one support and trained with workshops, such as catering and barbering.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025
"I started barbering, working as a Saturday lad in Skelmersdale," says Woods.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2025
He also took up prison barbering to make money.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023
The snipping was only a kind of mental barbering, a limbering up.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
