bare
1 Americanadjective
-
barer,
comparative
-
barest
superlative
-
without covering or clothing; naked; nude.
bare legs.
- Synonyms:
- undressed
-
without the usual furnishings, contents, etc..
bare walls.
-
open to view; unconcealed; undisguised.
his bare dislike of neckties.
-
unadorned; bald; plain.
the bare facts.
-
(of cloth) napless or threadbare.
-
scarcely or just sufficient; mere.
the bare necessities of life.
-
Obsolete. with the head uncovered; bareheaded.
verb (used with object)
verb
adjective
-
unclothed; exposed: used esp of a part of the body
-
without the natural, conventional, or usual covering or clothing
a bare tree
-
lacking appropriate furnishings, etc
a bare room
-
unembellished; simple
the bare facts
-
(prenomial) just sufficient; mere
he earned the bare minimum
-
without a weapon or tool
verb
verb
Usage
What else does bare mean? Bare is UK slang for very or lots of.
Synonym Usage
Bare, stark, barren share the sense of lack or absence of something that might be expected. Bare, the least powerful in connotation of the three, means lack of expected or usual coverings, furnishings, or embellishments: bare floor, feet, head. Stark implies extreme severity or desolation and resultant bleakness or dreariness: a stark landscape; a stark, emotionless countenance. Barren carries a strong sense of sterility and oppressive dullness: barren fields; a barren relationship. See mere 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of bare
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English bær; cognate with Old Frisian ber, Dutch baar, Old Saxon, Old High German, German bar, Old Norse berr; akin to Armenian bok “naked,” Lithuanian bãsas, Russian bosóĭ “barefoot”
Explanation
When you kick off your shoes to walk on the beach, you are enjoying the feeling of your bare feet in the warm sand. The adjective bare describes something or someone that is naked or unclothed. Bare can be used in many different ways: to describe the inside of your nearly-empty refrigerator, an uncarpeted floor, or your unadorned, sparsely decorated bedroom. The word bare can also be used as a verb meaning "to uncover or expose." When you reveal deep truths about yourself to another person — imagine confessing your passion for stamp collecting to a girl you like — you "bare your soul."
Vocabulary lists containing bare
Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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"Mother to Son"
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Commonly Confused Words, List 4
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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.
See Examples For:
The death has also laid bare tensions between Al-Hussaini’s wife and her in-laws.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
The next day, the 45-year-old posts a video on Instagram, speaking outdoors in front of a bare wall.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
Some Airbnb hosts are threatening to quit the platform, raise their housekeeping fees or pare their rental properties down to the bare essentials rather than accept new restrictions on checkout chores.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
It’s no spoiler to say he’s going to try to escape, because there’s only so many sorts of mischief he can get up to in his bare cell and this is a 10-episode series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Taking care not to touch the Nanuak with his bare hands, he tipped the lamp, the stone tooth and the river eyes into the wovengrass pouch.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
"All around me staff are leaving, staff are crying... many people are already voting with their feet and leaving. But of course that just strips the service even barer."
From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2022
A soul barer and a tireless collaborator, Nate Dogg was the preeminent rap vocalist of the 1990s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2022
Already, the security law has left Hong Kong’s digital spaces — which, during the 2019 protests, became raucous forums for organizing, cheerleading and criticizing the government — significantly barer than before.
From New York Times ● Sep. 17, 2021
A glacier can provide some protection, preserving piles of snow year-round that can even be deployed on barer ski pistes elsewhere on the slopes.
From Reuters ● Aug. 27, 2021
Yet it is possible to reduce the drama to an even barer state than we find in Ibsen's gloomy tragedy in prose.
From A Book About the Theater by Brander Matthews
The Hilltop Youth establish the barest of footholds on open land with temporary lodgings and, in many cases, later build homes and raise families.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
If this familiar-looking advice seems like the barest minimum in modern cybersecurity hygiene, that’s because it is.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
Greenspan exhibited a deft touch with financial markets, saying the barest minimum in his statements but seemingly always conveying what traders wanted to hear.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
This is the barest minimum required when reading a picture book to children.
From Salon ● Dec. 11, 2025
It took the barest second, the softest brush of Nina’s fingertips.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Behind the squad's pride are raw emotions, which were bared by assistant manager Anthony Barry during his half-time interview with BBC One on Saturday night - conducted when England were 4-0 up.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
The pages capture the inner thoughts of someone who found himself at the center of history, as if Oppenheimer grabbed a pen and bared his soul during the Manhattan Project.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026
In a hotly-contested race, teeth were occasionally bared and there was some jostling for position in the closing sprint.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2025
All conveyed with a smile: chin down, eyes up, teeth bared.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2024
Piercing screeches hurt my ears as the giant bats descend from the rafters, fangs bared.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
As temperatures rise this summer, Japanese men are baring more leg at work than ever before.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Dog owners are baring their teeth on social media after the European Union's top court ruled that pets are not passengers just baggage if they get lost in transit.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025
Murray wasn’t worried about baring his abs for the film — it was the dancing that terrified him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2024
The joy of reaching the final, and in the manner he did it, was shown by Norrie baring his teeth and shouting his pleasure towards his team.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2024
The aboatia puts his game face on, which means baring his teeth and puffing up his fur.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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