bare

¹ American  

[bair] / bɛər /

adjective

barer, barest

1. without covering or clothing; naked; nude.

   bare legs.

   Synonyms:

   undressed

2. without the usual furnishings, contents, etc..

   bare walls.

   Synonyms:

   barren, empty, stark, plain

3. open to view; unconcealed; undisguised.

   his bare dislike of neckties.

4. unadorned; bald; plain.

   the bare facts.

5. (of cloth) napless or threadbare.

6. scarcely or just sufficient; mere.

   the bare necessities of life.

7. Obsolete. with the head uncovered; bareheaded.

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verb (used with object)

bared, baring

1. to open to view; reveal or divulge.

   to bare one's arms; to bare damaging new facts.

   Synonyms:

   expose, uncover

bare ² American  

[bair] / bɛər /

verb

Archaic.

1. simple past tense of bear.

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bare ¹ British  

/ bɛə /

adjective

1. unclothed; exposed: used esp of a part of the body

2. without the natural, conventional, or usual covering or clothing

   a bare tree

3. lacking appropriate furnishings, etc

   a bare room

4. unembellished; simple

   the bare facts

5. (prenomial) just sufficient; mere

   he earned the bare minimum

6. without a weapon or tool

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verb

1. (tr) to make bare; uncover; reveal

bare ² British  

/ bɛə /

verb

1. archaic a past tense of bear 1

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Usage

What else does bare mean? Bare is UK slang for very or lots of.

Related Words

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

• bareness
  noun
• barish
  adjective

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."

Example Sentences

Rai doesn't punch hanging slabs of meat with his bare knuckles while training like the iconic boxing character.

From BBC • May 18, 2026

The trial has laid bare the internal strife within a circle of elite Silicon Valley engineers, investors and executives in the years leading up to the high-profile launch of the ChatGPT chatbot in 2022.

From Barron's • May 11, 2026

Promotional materials for Neighbors First are mostly bare bones.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026

“We were already pretty bare bones,” the 39-year-old said of his team.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

I joined the others, the wooden wall rough against my bare back.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

• arid
• barren
• bleak
• desolate
• empty
• stark
• vacant