pare
verb (used with object)
to cut off the outer coating, layer, or part of.
pare
1 American
[pair]
/ pɛər /
verb (used with object)
-
pares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pared,
past participle, past
-
paring
present participle
-
to cut off the outer coating, layer, or part of.
-
to remove (an outer coating, layer, or part) by cutting (often followed by off oraway ).
-
to reduce or remove by or as by cutting; diminish or decrease gradually (often followed bydown ).
to pare down one's expenses.
- Antonyms:
- increase
Paré
2
American
[pa -rey]
/ paˈreɪ /
noun
pare
1
British
/ pɛə /
verb
-
to peel or cut (the outer layer) from (something)
-
to cut the edges from (the nails); trim
-
to decrease bit by bit
Paré
2
British
/ pare /
noun
Synonym Usage
See peel 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
paresimple
-
paressimple
-
have paredperfect
-
has paredperfect
-
am paringprogressive
-
are paringprogressive
-
is paringprogressive
-
have been paringperfect progressive
-
has been paringperfect progressive
Past
-
paredsimple
-
had paredperfect
-
was paringprogressive
-
were paringprogressive
-
had been paringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pare
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English paren, from Middle French parer, “to make ready, trim” from Latin parāre ”to prepare, make ready“; see origin at prepare
Explanation
To pare is to trim — like when you pare branches on a tree or pare down your expenses to save money. Pare comes from the Latin word parare, meaning "to prepare." Think of peeling potatoes, which you might do with a paring knife, or paring your nails so you'll make a neat appearance. In each case, you are trimming something gradually. If you pare down your expectations, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Vocabulary lists containing pare
"The Railway Train" by Emily Dickinson
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Twelfth Night
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Our Town
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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 concern is that investors borrowing in the low-yielding yen to reinvest elsewhere — what’s called the carry trade— will have to pare or eliminate those bets as the yen rises.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
It worked to pare down menus and offer dinner deals, and rolled out items like slow-braised pot roast and hash-brown casserole shepherd’s pie.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
News that shipping continued in the Red Sea helped investors pare the gains on Friday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Weak leasing activity and an overabundance of space combined to push the nationwide vacancy rate up to an 11-year high last year and led many developers to pare back construction plans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
The advice to omit needless words should not be confused with the puritanical edict that all writers must pare every sentence down to the shortest, leanest, most abstemious version possible.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Ms. Paré was known for ordering desserts before anything else on the menu, or celebrating a special occasion by ordering all the desserts on the menu.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2023
Paré described the number of shots fired as in the "hundreds," according to the station.
From Fox News ● Feb. 10, 2022
Talk about what resources your parents plan to use to pay for care, Paré says.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2021
Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Paré said Tuesday that none of the hurt officers was seriously injured.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 2, 2020
"What is the meaning of this riot?" asked Ambrose Paré.
From Historical Tales, Vol. 6 (of 15) The Romance of Reality. French. by Charles Morris
First, the order pares the list of recommended immunizations to 11 diseases from 17.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
MS pares forecasts for immunoglobulin and albumin revenue growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Moderna pares early gains even as the drugmaker posts higher revenue and a narrower loss for the first quarter.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
When the prime minister addresses the cabinet, not far away in 10 Downing Street, he is primus inter pares, first among equals, sitting among his or her ministers.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2025
The Old Dominion was accustomed to thinking of itself as primus inter pares in any confederation of states.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
On currency markets, the yen strengthened to around 153.50 per dollar after seeing Tuesday's rally -- which saw it within a whisker of its 2026 high -- pared towards the end of the day.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
The closely watched level was crossed overnight after comments from Fed Gov. Waller pared expectations of aggressive rate hikes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The two main contracts Brent and West Texas Intermediate pared their gains Wednesday and on Thursday they edged lower, though news of fresh US attacks tempered the selling.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Shein pared some losses, ending the day with a decline of about 4% at HK$46.58, or $5.94.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
From the age of three it has been planed and polished, pared down, harnessed wholly to the task of storytelling.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
The S&P 500 reached an intraday high of 7,741.27 on Thursday, before paring some gains to close at 7,730.99.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
—Bitcoin rose as a paring of U.S. interest-rate rise expectations supported risky assets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Rheinmetall shares were up almost nine percent at 1310 GMT, before paring gains.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
On Monday, Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed stock rose as much as 5.6% before paring gains to 5.15% at midday, outperforming the Nasdaq-like Hang Seng Tech Index’s 2.9% increase.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Countless similar oddities result from our conventional ways of measuring, reporting, and com paring periodic quantities, whether they be the monthly cash flow of a government or the regular daily fluctuations in body temperature.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
