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

See Examples For:

bare necessities

The money, which once allowed her to fill a grocery cart, now only covers the bare necessities.

From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2026

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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2022

I have to admit it’s much tougher here than I expected, but at least everyone seems to have the bare necessities.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

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