bald

1 of 2

adjective

1
a
: lacking a natural or usual covering (as of hair, vegetation, or nap)
his bald head
Both men were bald.
a bald hill
bald trees
The rug was bald with wear.
b
: having little or no tread
bald tires
2
: marked with white
a horse with a bald face
3
: lacking adornment or amplification
a bald assertion
4
: undisguised, palpable
bald arrogance
baldish adjective
baldly adverb
baldness noun

bald

2 of 2

verb

balded; balding; balds

transitive verb

: to make bald

intransitive verb

: to become bald
balding with age
Choose the Right Synonym for bald

bare, naked, nude, bald, barren mean deprived of naturally or conventionally appropriate covering.

bare implies the removal of what is additional, superfluous, ornamental, or dispensable.

an apartment with bare walls

naked suggests absence of protective or ornamental covering but may imply a state of nature, of destitution, or of defenselessness.

poor half-naked children

nude applies especially to the unclothed human figure.

a nude model posing for art students

bald implies actual or seeming absence of natural covering and may suggest a conspicuous bareness.

a bald mountain peak

barren often suggests aridity or impoverishment or sterility.

barren plains

Examples of bald in a Sentence

Adjective All of his uncles are completely bald. He had gone completely bald by the age of 30. He covered his bald head with a baseball cap. There's a bald spot on the top of his head. There are bald patches in the cat's fur. an old car with bald tires
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Instead of appearing as a brunette man, Morph is now nonbinary with a bald head and white, mask-like face. Jordan Moreau, Variety, 14 Mar. 2024 Her bald head opens at the back to unveil a disturbing metal cap that hides the whirring mechanics within her skull. Matthew Strauss, Pitchfork, 29 Feb. 2024 He is described as a bald man, about 30 to 40 years old. Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 20 Feb. 2024 Owner Josh Mansfield has a bald and fully tattooed head, a long family history in Redding and a mission to rebuild community after COVD and a devastating 2018 wildfire caused extensive damage in the region, including destruction of his home and more than 1,000 others. Janet Fullwood, The Mercury News, 19 Feb. 2024 For a little bit of background: Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that attacks hair follicles, resulting in patchy or bald spots on the body. Ayana Underwood, SELF, 30 Jan. 2024 His two sons are in school and his wife is a realtor, leaving Scot at home a lot with Monkey, the family’s bald cat. Gregg Doyel, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024 Paul dispatches the bald baddie in a climactic battle and Princess Irulan agrees to marry him to spare her father. Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 2 Mar. 2024 Notably, Hoult sports a bald head — the signature hairstyle (or rather, lack-of-hair style) worn by baddie Luthor in the iconic DC series. Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 1 Mar. 2024
Verb
Most of our black-bearded, balding gentlemen sat upright on couches, their guts sucked in, their mustaches twisted from unconscious twirling. Jamil Jan Kochai, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2024 Pa of suction power that seems destined to instantly bald your carpets, along with the highly effective Ozmo Turbo mopping system. Condé Nast, WIRED, 9 Jan. 2024 In Northern California running circles, he was known as a sturdy, smiling, balding man in perpetual motion. John Branch, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023 Paul is a mild-mannered, badly balding evolutionary biology professor who just wants somebody, anybody, to clock his existence. Jada Yuan, Washington Post, 22 Nov. 2023 But on TikTok, men are boldly showing off their balding options. Andrea Mandell, Peoplemag, 18 Nov. 2023 Yudkowsky is 43, balding, and with a dark beard and glasses. David Kushner, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2023 Authorities described him as a white male between 5 feet, 7 inches and 5 feet, 9 inches; and weighing between 154 and 160 pounds with balding blond hair, blue eyes and a beard. Amy Simonson, CNN, 21 Sep. 2023 Hair follicles are harvested under local anaesthesia with the assistance of special micro-punches, which are then grafted and transplanted to thinning or balding areas of the scalp. Tenille Clarke, Essence, 12 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bald.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English balled; probably akin to Danish dialect bældet bald, Latin fulica coot, Greek phalios having a white spot, Old English bǣl fire, pyre

Verb

derivative of bald entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1602, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of bald was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near bald

Cite this Entry

“Bald.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bald. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

bald

1 of 2 adjective
1
: lacking a natural or usual covering (as of hair)
2
: plain entry 2 sense 1, unadorned
the bald facts
baldly adverb
baldness noun

bald

2 of 2 verb
: to become bald
his head is balding

Medical Definition

bald

adjective
: lacking all or a significant part of the hair on the head or sometimes on other parts of the body
bald intransitive verb

More from Merriam-Webster on bald

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