bare
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: bâr
ipa: /bɛə/
ipa: /bɛː/
ipa: /bɛɚ/
ipa: /beː/
ipa: [beː~bɛː]
ipa: /ˈbiːə(r)/
ipa: /bɛː(r)/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /beə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /biə/
ipa: /beɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /bɜː(ɹ)/
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
homophone: bear
homophone: beer (cheer–chair merger)
homophone: burr (fair–fur merger)
Forms: form: barer
form: barest
Etymology: From Middle English bare, bar, from Old English bær (“bare, naked, open”), from Proto-West Germanic *baʀ, from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare, naked”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós, from *bʰos- (“bare, barefoot”).
Cognate with Scots bare, bair (“bare”), Saterland Frisian bar (“bare”), West Frisian baar (“bare”), Dutch bar (“bare”), German bar (“bare”), Swedish bar (“bare”), Icelandic ber (“bare”), Lithuanian basas (“barefoot, bare”), Polish bosy (“barefoot”).
Senses: examples: text: a bare majority
text: Nature indeed furnishes us with the bare necessaries of life, but traffic gives us a great variety of what is useful
ref: 1711 May 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, May 19, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 69; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
synonyms: mere
minimal
antonyms: ample
plentiful
sufficient
glosses: Minimal; that is or are just sufficient.
examples: text: "I refuse to show myself out of doors in my bare feet," the Centipede said. "I have to get my boots on again first."
ref: 1961, Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach, Knopf, page 46:
synonyms: exposed
naked
nude
uncovered
undressed
antonyms: covered
covered up
dressed
unexposed
glosses: Naked, uncovered.
examples: text: a room bare of furniture
text: The cupboard was bare.
text: Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.
ref: 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, retrieved 31 Oct 2012:
synonyms: empty
unfurnished
unstocked
unsupplied
antonyms: full
furnished
stocked
supply
supplied
well-stocked
glosses: Having no supplies.
examples: text: The walls of this room are bare — why not hang some paintings on them?
synonyms: word: empty
word: plain
word: unadorned
word: undecorated
word: austere
word: bare
word: chaste
word: inornate
word: modest
word: plain
word: quiet
word: severe
word: simple
word: spartan
word: unadorned
word: unembellished
word: unextravagant
word: unornamented
word: undecked
word: ungarnished
word: untrimmed
word: unvarnished
antonyms: word: adorned
word: decorated
word: ornate
word: unadorned
glosses: Having no decoration.
examples: text: The trees were left bare after the swarm of locusts devoured all the leaves.
synonyms: despoiled
stripped
uncovered
antonyms: covered
glosses: Having had what usually covers (something) removed.
examples: text: It's taking bare time.
text: The phone would answer, we'd go round the corner, pass something to someone, go back and we'd have bare dough, we'd have bare money in our pocket.
ref: 2005 July 13, Ryan, quotee, “‘We like the easy money. We like the lifestyle’”, in The Guardian:
text: You shagged bare lads, you're a little sket / Have you heard your bars? They're fucking pept
ref: 2016 December 3, Millie B, “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:
text: Oh, come on. Help a brother out. People see you coppin', might inspire them. Look, I know you ain't payin' bills right now. Man must have bare peas saved up.
ref: 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda):
glosses: A lot or lots of.
examples: text: When once thy foot enters the church, be bare. / God is more there, then thou: for thou art there / Onely by his permiſſion.
ref: [1633], George Herbert, “The Church-porch”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 14:
synonyms: uncovered
glosses: With head uncovered; bareheaded.
examples: text: Bare in thy guilt how foul muſt thou appear?
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 56, line 903:
synonyms: word: apparent
word: displayed
word: apparent
word: bare
word: displayed
word: distinct
word: evident
word: exposed
word: certain
word: clear
word: indubitable
word: manifest
word: notorious
word: obvious
word: plain
word: unconcealed
word: visible
antonyms: word: concealed
word: obscured
word: apparent
word: open
word: overt
word: visible
glosses: Without anything to cover up or conceal one's thoughts or actions; open to view; exposed.
examples: text: bare essentials; bare necessities
text: Those who lent him money lent it on no security but his bare word.
ref: 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, Chapter XII:
synonyms: alone
simple
only
very
glosses: Mere; without embellishment.
examples: text: for it appears, by their bare liveries, that they live by your bare words.
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
synonyms: shabby
worn-out
glosses: Threadbare, very worn.
examples: text: Before the company was formed, the firm went bare for about three months in 1985, but it now has prior acts coverage for that time.
ref: 1987 December 1, ABA Journal, page 86:
text: That a firm chooses to go bare has no effect on whether it gets sued or not.
ref: 1994, David S. Haviland, The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, page 310:
synonyms: noninsured
uninsured
glosses: Not insured.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: ace bare
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barearse
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-arse
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareass
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-assed
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareback
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barebacked
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-backed
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-bellied
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-bellied Joe
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare board
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareboat
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barebone
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-boned
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare bones
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-bones
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-boobed
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-bottomed
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barebow
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-breasted
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-bum
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barebutt
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-butt
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barechested
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-chested
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-eared squirrel monkey
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare essentials
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-eye
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-eyed cockatoo
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barefaced
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barefast
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barefoot
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barefooted
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-footed
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-footen
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barehand
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare hand
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-handed
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barehanded
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-handedly
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-handedness
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareheaded
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-headed
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare infinitive
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareish
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare king
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare knuckle
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-knuckle
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-knuckle boxing
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-knuckled
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare knuckled
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-knuckle fight
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare knuckling
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-knuckling
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareland
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barelegged
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-legged owl
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare license
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barely
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare metal
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare minimum
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare minimum Monday
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare navy
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barenecked
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareness
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare noun
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare patch
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare poles
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-root
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareroot
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: baresark
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-shouldered
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareskin
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-skin
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare-throated bellbird
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bare trust
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: bareword
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: barish
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: in one's bare skin
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: king bare
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: lay bare
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: lay bare one's soul
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: pale-faced bare-eye
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: the cupboard is bare
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: threadbare
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: unbare
sense: Terms derived from bare (adjective)
word: with one's bare hands