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barren

[ bar-uhn ]
/ ˈbær ən /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR barren ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

noun

Usually barrens. level or slightly rolling land, usually with a sandy soil and few trees, and relatively infertile.

Content related to barren

Are New Idioms Ever Created?Many idioms—expressions that are not taken literally—are so old and so familiar that we don’t think twice about using them. We say, for example, “it’s raining cats and dogs” to indicate that it’s pouring outside, and “comfortable as an old shoe” to explain an easy and familiar relationship. We can trace the etymology of some idioms to books and sayings that were first used hundreds …
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Words related to barren

desolate, sterile, arid, parched, impoverished, infertile, empty, flat, dry, fallow, waste, desert, effete, fruitless, impotent, unfruitful, unproductive, infecund, unbearing, uncultivable

Words nearby barren

barreleye, barrelfish, barrelful, barrelhead, barrelhouse, barren, barren ground caribou, barren grounds, barren lands, barren strawberry, barrens

Origin of barren

1200–50; Middle English bareyn(e), barayn(e) < Anglo-French barai(gn)e, Old French brahaigne (French bréhaigne (of animals) sterile), akin to Spanish breña scrubby, uncultivated ground, Upper Italian barena land along a lagoon covered by high water; apparently < Celtic, compare Welsh braenar, Irish branar fallow land, but derivational details unclear

OTHER WORDS FROM barren

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH barren

barren baron baronet

synonym study for barren

2. See bare1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for barren

British Dictionary definitions for barren

barren
/ (ˈbærən) /

adjective

incapable of producing offspring, seed, or fruit; sterilea barren tree
unable to support the growth of crops, etc; unproductive; barebarren land
lacking in stimulation or ideas; dulla rather barren play
not producing worthwhile results; unprofitablea barren period in a writer's life
(foll by of) totally lacking (in); devoid (of)his speech was barren of wit
(of rock strata) having no fossils

Derived forms of barren

barrenly, adverbbarrenness, noun

Word Origin for barren

C13: from Old French brahain, of uncertain origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for barren

barren
[ băr′ən ]

adj.

Not producing offspring.
Incapable of producing offspring.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.