| English Dictionary |
BARE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does bare mean?
• BARE (adjective)
The adjective BARE has 10 senses:
1. completely unclothed
2. lacking in magnitude or quantity
3. not having a protective covering
4. lacking its natural or customary covering
5. just barely adequate or within a lower limit
6. apart from anything else; without additions or modifications
7. lacking a surface finish such as paint
8. providing no shelter or sustenance
9. having everything extraneous removed including contents
10. lacking embellishment or ornamentation
Familiarity information: BARE used as an adjective is familiar.
• BARE (verb)
The verb BARE has 3 senses:
1. lay bare
2. make public
3. lay bare
Familiarity information: BARE used as a verb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: barest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Completely unclothed
Synonyms:
au naturel; bare; naked; nude
Context example:
a nude model
Similar:
unclothed (not wearing clothing)
Derivation:
bareness (the state of being unclothed and exposed (especially of a part of the body))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking in magnitude or quantity
Synonyms:
Context example:
a spare diet
Similar:
meager; meagerly; meagre; scrimpy; stingy (deficient in amount or quality or extent)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not having a protective covering
Synonyms:
bare; unsheathed
Context example:
a bare blade
Derivation:
bareness (an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Lacking its natural or customary covering
Context example:
bare feet
Similar:
bald; denudate; denuded (without the natural or usual covering)
naked (lacking any cover)
undraped (lacking drapery or draperies)
unroofed (having no roof)
Antonym:
covered (overlaid or spread or topped with or enclosed within something; sometimes used as a combining form)
Derivation:
bareness (an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Just barely adequate or within a lower limit
Synonyms:
bare; marginal
Context example:
a marginal victory
Similar:
narrow (very limited in degree)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Apart from anything else; without additions or modifications
Synonyms:
Context example:
the simple truth
Similar:
plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Lacking a surface finish such as paint
Synonyms:
bare; unfinished
Context example:
unfinished furniture
Similar:
unpainted (not having a coat of paint or badly in need of a fresh coat)
Derivation:
bareness (an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Providing no shelter or sustenance
Synonyms:
bare; barren; bleak; desolate; stark
Context example:
a stark landscape
Similar:
inhospitable (unfavorable to life or growth)
Derivation:
bareness (an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Having everything extraneous removed including contents
Synonyms:
bare; stripped
Context example:
the cupboard was bare
Similar:
empty (holding or containing nothing)
Derivation:
bareness (an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Lacking embellishment or ornamentation
Synonyms:
bare; plain; spare; unembellished; unornamented
Context example:
functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete
Similar:
unadorned; undecorated (not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it bares Past simple: bared
Past participle: bared
-ing form: baring
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lay bare
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Context example:
bare your feelings
Hypernyms (to "bare" is one way to...):
expose; uncover (remove all or part of one's clothes to show one's body)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Sense 2
Meaning:
Make public
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Synonyms:
air; bare; publicise; publicize
Context example:
She aired her opinions on welfare
Hypernyms (to "bare" is one way to...):
tell (let something be known)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bare"):
hype (publicize in an exaggerated and often misleading manner)
bulletin (make public by bulletin)
bring out; issue; publish; put out; release (prepare and issue for public distribution or sale)
broadcast; circularise; circularize; circulate; diffuse; disperse; disseminate; distribute; pass around; propagate; spread (cause to become widely known)
air; beam; broadcast; send; transmit (broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lay bare
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
Context example:
denude a forest
Hypernyms (to "bare" is one way to...):
clear (remove)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bare"):
defoliate (strip the leaves or branches from)
burn off (clear land of its vegetation by burning it off)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sentence example:
They bare the trees
Context examples
When you bared your arm to draw that fish into the boat I saw that J.A. had been tattooed in the bend of the elbow.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A cold drizzle was falling, but he bared his head to it and unbuttoned his vest, swinging along in splendid unconcern.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Now, the researchers demonstrated that a composite of titania and graphene – a two-dimensional form of carbon - has significantly more powerful photodegradation properties than bare titania.
(Smog-eating graphene composite reduces atmospheric pollution, University of Cambridge)
He had evidently been in his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he wore a foppish, embroidered nightshirt, and his bare feet projected from his trousers.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
We’re at the beginnin’ iv things, I’m tellin’ ye, the bare beginnin’ iv things.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Slowly he followed it with his eyes, winding in wide sweeps among the bleak, bare hills, bleaker and barer and lower-lying than any hills he had yet encountered.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
When they looked closely at videos taken of the mosquitos in action, they noticed the insects landed much less frequently on graphene than on bare skin.
(Graphene shield shows promise in blocking mosquito bites, National Institutes of Health)
The opposite mountain is a bare perpendicular rock.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"A people without a history is like the wind over buffalo grass." (Native American proverb, Sioux)
"You need a brother, without one you're like a person rushing to battle without a weapon." (Arabic proverb)
"They who are born of chickens scratch the earth." (Corsican proverb)