bare necessities
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Just sufficient resources, with nothing to spare. For example, The room was furnished with just the bare necessities—bed, table, chair. This idiom uses bare in the sense of “mere, and nothing else,” a usage dating from about 1200.
QUIZ
QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!
Were you ready for a quiz on this topic? Well, here it is! See how well you can differentiate between the uses of "was" vs. "were" in this quiz.
Question 1 of 7
“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.
Words nearby bare necessities
barelegged, barely, bare lymphocyte syndrome, bare-naked, Barenboim, bare necessities, Barents, Barents Sea, bare one's soul, bare one's teeth, bare-root
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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