Etymology
Origin of barbed
Explanation
Something that's barbed is sharp or spiky. Barbed wire has very sharp points at intervals along its length, to keep animals or people in (or out of) a yard. Roses are famous for their sweet blossoms and barbed stems. A fish hook is also barbed, with a sharp spike on its end. You can use barbed figuratively, to describe cruel or biting words: "Her barbed comment made it clear how angry she was after the practical joke he'd played on her." The root of barbed is the Old French word for "beard," or "something beardlike," barbe, from the Latin barba, also "beard."
Vocabulary lists containing barbed
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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Seedfolks
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This Week in Words: October 22 - 27, 2017
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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.
By figuring out how to economically mass produce barbed wire, Glidden certainly solved a problem.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
Thai flags flapped in the breeze and barbed wire lay scattered in Klong Paeng, another border village on the Thai military trip.
From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026
“I’m leaving here even more concerned than I was when I arrived,” Padilla said, as the detention facility, surrounded by barbed wire, loomed behind him.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2026
"The pain is excruciating, at its worst it's like barbed wire inside me and clinging to my organs. I am so ill I can often spend days in bed," Maguire said.
From BBC • Jan. 8, 2026
Tom Yew started saying he'd seen The Great Escape and everyone agreed everything else'd been crap compared to The Great Escape, specially the bit where Steve McQueen gets caught by Nazis on the barbed wire.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
