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barren

bar·ren

UK/ˈbaɹən/ US/ˈbæɹən/ fairly common
noun (1) adjective (3)

noun

1.

an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation

  • “the barrens of central Africa”
  • “the trackless wastes of the desert”
Synonyms

adjective

1.

providing no shelter or sustenance

  • “bare rocky hills”
  • “barren lands”
  • “the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes”
  • “the desolate surface of the moon”
  • “a stark landscape”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

not bearing offspring

  • “a barren woman”
  • “learned early in his marriage that he was sterile”
Similar
3.

incapable of sustaining life

  • “the dead and barren Moon”
Similar

Origin

From Middle English bareyne, from Anglo-Norman baraigne, baraing (“sterile; barren”), of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *baʀ (“bare; barren”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare”). If so, a cognate of English bare.

Phrases

  • barren strawberry
  • barren-ground caribou
  • urchin barren

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.