First Known Use: before 12th century
Dictionary
1bare
adjective \ˈber\
: not having a covering
: not covered by clothing, shoes, a hat, etc.
: not covered by leaves, grass, trees, or plants
bar·erbar·est
Full Definition of BARE
1
a : lacking a natural, usual, or appropriate covering b (1) : lacking clothing <bare feet> (2) obsolete : bareheaded c : lacking any tool or weapon <opened the box with his bare hands>
2
: open to view : exposed <laying bare their secrets>
3
a : unfurnished or scantily supplied <a bare room> b : destitute <bare of all safeguards>
4
See bare defined for English-language learners
See bare defined for kids
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Examples of BARE
- The dining room is warm and comfortable in a quasi-Tuscan-villa style, with bare wood floors, mottled walls, … and a glass room divider etched with images of grapes. —Colman Andrews, Gourmet, March 2007
- A scant two hours after his Derby victory, Monarchos was back in his … stall, beneath a bare bulb, eating carrots from a red bucket. —Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated, 14 May 2001
- The brittle-looking branches of bare trees reached up from the horizon, and smoke could be seen curling from the chimneys of the sturdy stone houses in the villages we passed through. —David McAninch, Saveur, November 2008
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Origin of BARE
Middle English, from Old English bær; akin to Old High German bar naked, Lithuanian basas barefoot
Related to BARE
- Antonyms
- adorned, decorated, embellished, fancy, ornamented
Synonym Discussion of BARE
bare, naked, nude, bald, barren mean deprived of naturally or conventionally appropriate covering. bare implies the removal of what is additional, superfluous, ornamental, or dispensable <an apartment with bare walls>. naked suggests absence of protective or ornamental covering but may imply a state of nature, of destitution, or of defenselessness <poor half-naked children>. nude applies especially to the unclothed human figure <a nude model posing for art students>. bald implies actual or seeming absence of natural covering and may suggest a conspicuous bareness <a bald mountain peak>. barren often suggests aridity or impoverishment or sterility <barren plains>.
Rhymes with BARE
air, Ayr, bear, Blair, blare, care, chair, chare, dare, Dare, e'er, ere, err, eyre, fair, fare, flair, flare, glair, glare, hair, hare, Herr, heir, lair, mare, ne'er, pair, pare, pear, prayer, rare, rear, scare, share, snare, spare, square, stair, stare, swear, tare, tear, their, there, vair, ware, wear, weir, where, yare
2bare
verb \ˈber\
: to remove the covering from (something)
baredbar·ing
Full Definition of BARE
transitive verb
See bare defined for English-language learners
Examples of BARE
- Ed McMahon calls upon the canine coach to help him settle down his aggressive … terrier, which is nice to Ed but bares its teeth at guests. —TV Guide, 29 Oct.-4 Nov. 2007
- You could argue that the very act of conducting a lengthy poll by telephone skews the response pool. What sort of person bares her soul to pollsters for upward of an hour—and during the holiday season yet? —Katha Pollitt, Nation, 4/11 Aug. 2003
- When Eastman called Death in the Afternoon (Hemingway's nonfiction book about bullfighting) “a literary style of wearing false hair on the chest,” Hemingway had no other options than to bare his hirsute midsection and duke it out with his rival author in front of their editor, Max Perkins. The common mythology is that Hemingway beat Eastman to a bloody pulp, but Perkins' account had Eastman gaining the upper hand. —Will Manley, Booklist, 1 Apr. 2001
- The better analogy is to bare all on the talk shows in which ordinary people are encouraged to reveal intimate aspects of their private lives. —Richard A. Posner, New Republic, 21 Aug. 2000
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Origin of BARE
(see 1bare)
First Known Use: before 12th century
3bare
Definition of BARE
archaic past of bear
BARE[1] Defined for Kids
1bare
adjective \ˈber\
bar·erbar·est
Definition of BARE for Kids
1
: having no covering : naked <bare feet> <The trees were bare of leaves.>
2
: 1empty 1 <The cupboard was bare.>
3
: having nothing left over or added : mere <the bare necessities> <… Thorton was abreast of him and a bare half-dozen strokes away … — Jack London, The Call of the Wild>
4
: bald 2 <the bare facts>
2bare
verb
baredbar·ing
Definition of BARE for Kids
: uncover 2
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