bald

1 of 2

adjective

ˈbȯld 

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

ˈbȯl-dish 

adjective

baldly

ˈbȯl(d)-lē 

adverb

baldness

ˈbȯl(d)-nəs 

noun

bald

2 of 2

verb

balded; balding; balds

transitive verb

: to make bald

intransitive verb

: to become bald

balding with age

Synonyms

Adjective

• bare
• denuded
• exposed
• naked
• open
• peeled
• stripped
• uncovered

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

Behind a bald and bespectacled priest (representing religion), a matron pushes a baby carriage alongside three white geese (family). —Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024

With his sleek, bald pate and athlete’s physique, Gossett was intimidating in a wide array of no-nonsense roles, most notably in Taylor Hackford’s Officer and a Gentleman (1982), where as Gunnery Sgt. —Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Mar. 2024

Travis John Branson pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of conspiracy, unlawful trafficking of bald and golden eagles and violation of the Lacey Act, federal prosecutors said. —Sara Smart, CNN, 21 Mar. 2024

Tall, thin, and bald, he has been compared to both a monk and a preacher. —Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024

In the photo, Bacon wore his Hollow Man costume, which included a blue pantsuit, a white tank top, a bald cap and green eye makeup. —Jordan Greene, Peoplemag, 21 Mar. 2024

Director James Gunn posted a photo of the Superman: Legacy cast after a table read on social media Thursday, offering a first look at a very bald Hoult as the villain Lex Luthor. —Jessica Wang, EW.com, 22 Feb. 2024

In Picture a day like this, the child’s death is not explained: as in a fairy tale, the bald fact of loss is announced at the outset and never accounted for. —Matthew Aucoin, The New York Review of Books, 15 Feb. 2024

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

Verb

And then there’s Em Cheney, known online as the Toupee Queen, who has generated 36 million views on TikTok through viral videos of guys who enter her shop balding and leave looking decades younger. —John Ortved, Robb Report, 12 Mar. 2024

Supporting actor John Carroll Lynch’s balding OB-GYN patiently explains a few things. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 10 Mar. 2024

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

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

Phrases Containing bald

• bald eagle
• go bald
• bald cypress
• bald-faced hornet
• bald-faced

Kids Definition

bald

1 of 2 adjective

ˈbȯld 

1

: lacking a natural or usual covering (as of hair)

2

: plain entry 2 sense 1, unadorned

the bald facts

baldly adverb

baldness

ˈbȯl(d)-nəs 

noun

bald

2 of 2 verb

: to become bald

his head is balding

Medical Definition

bald

adjective

ˈbȯld 

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

bald intransitive verb