bare necessities

Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

It was a decent home at first, close enough to her job downtown and with all the bare necessities for daily living.

From BBC • Jan. 2, 2026

An unexpected visitor showed up at a Petersburg, Alaska, grocery store looking for the bare necessities this week — a black bear cub.

From Washington Times • Oct. 21, 2023

Sri Lankans are struggling to access the bare necessities like food, fuel, medicine, cooking gas and even toilet paper and matches.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 5, 2022

“The bare necessities you would get at the market, you get it here,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2022

After Mom and I finished putting away my suitcase of bare necessities, she said to me, “Why don’t you go out and explore, honey?”

From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling