bare

¹

[ bair ]

adjective

, bar·er, bar·est.

1. without covering or clothing; naked; nude:

   bare legs.

   Synonyms: undressed

2. without the usual furnishings, contents, etc.:

   bare walls.

   Synonyms: barren, empty, stark, plain

3. open to view; unconcealed; undisguised:

   his bare dislike of neckties.

4. unadorned; bald; plain:

   the bare facts.

5. (of cloth) napless or threadbare.
6. scarcely or just sufficient; mere:

   the bare necessities of life.

7. Obsolete. with the head uncovered; bareheaded.

verb (used with object)

, bared, bar·ing.

1. to open to view; reveal or divulge:

   to bare one's arms; to bare damaging new facts.

   Synonyms: expose, uncover

bare

²

[ bair ]

verb

, Archaic.

1. simple past tense of bear ¹.

bare

¹

/ bɛə /

verb

1. archaic.
   a past tense of bear 1

bare

²

/ bɛə /

adjective

1. unclothed; exposed: used esp of a part of the body
2. without the natural, conventional, or usual covering or clothing

   a bare tree

3. lacking appropriate furnishings, etc

   a bare room

4. unembellished; simple

   the bare facts

5. prenomial just sufficient; mere

   he earned the bare minimum

6. with one's bare hands
   without a weapon or tool

verb

1. tr to make bare; uncover; reveal

Derived Forms

• ˈbareness, noun

Other Words From

• barish adjective
• bareness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bare¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English bær; cognate with Old Frisian ber, Dutch baar, Old Saxon, Old High German, German bar, Old Norse berr; akin to Armenian bok “naked,” Lithuanian bãsas, Russian bosóĭ “barefoot”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bare¹

Old English bær ; compare Old Norse berr , Old High German bar naked, Old Slavonic bosǔ barefoot

Synonym Study

Bare, stark, barren share the sense of lack or absence of something that might be expected. Bare, the least powerful in connotation of the three, means lack of expected or usual coverings, furnishings, or embellishments: bare floor, feet, head. Stark implies extreme severity or desolation and resultant bleakness or dreariness: a stark landscape; a stark, emotionless countenance. Barren carries a strong sense of sterility and oppressive dullness: barren fields; a barren relationship. See mere ¹.

Example Sentences

The season finale of “American Sports Story” laid bare the tragic end for Aaron Hernandez, that once promising NFL player.

From Los Angeles Times

I’ve enjoyed stripping the songs back down to the bare bones and enjoyed that they’re still sturdy enough to withstand that kind of stripping away.

From Los Angeles Times

He wants two players for every position as a bare minimum and, with that now in place, he does not envisage signing more than two or three each transfer window.

From BBC

But somehow the imagery, mostly against a bare stage, focused attention on a performance in which every single note, sung or played, every movement, every physical object, seemed to have been thought through and was riveting.

From Los Angeles Times

It was a warm October evening and the swaths of black mustard weed on the trail had completely dried up, leaving the towering stalks spindly and bare.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• divulge
• expose
• uncover