barren

1 of 2

adjective

bar·ren ˈber-ən

ˈba-rən

Synonyms of barren next

: not reproducing: such as

: incapable of producing offspring

—used especially of females or matings

barren women

: not yet or not recently pregnant

of plants : habitually failing to fruit

barren apple trees

: not productive: such as

: producing little or no vegetation : desolate

barren deserts

: producing inferior crops

barren soil

: unproductive of results or gain : fruitless

a barren scheme

: devoid, lacking

—used with of

barren of excitement

: lacking interest or charm

a barren routine

: lacking inspiration or ideas

a barren mind

barrenly adverb

barrenness

ˈber-ə(n)-nəs

ˈba-rə(n)-

noun

barren

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noun

barrens plural, geography : an extent of usually level land having an inferior growth of trees or little vegetation

: a tract of barren land

Choose the Right Synonym for barren

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

Example Sentences

Adjective Few creatures can thrive on these barren mountaintops. The book was good, but I found the barren lives of the characters depressing. Noun lived out in the barrens where it was impossible to grow anything

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

In the middle of the barren Nevada desert, there’s a dusty unmarked road that leads to the front gate of Area 51. —

Matt Blitz, Popular Mechanics, 23 Mar. 2023 The water can be pumped onto barren land — storm or not — and allowed to sink into the ground. —

Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2023 The swath of barren land surrounding Rensselaer remained largely undeveloped except for a jumble of parking lots until ground was broken for Dunkin’ Park, the city’s minor league ballpark in 2015. —

Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 8 Feb. 2023 Each tree cut down, each swath of territory burned transforms another piece of the Amazon into a barren land, where water dries up more quickly and climate-changing carbon disperses into the atmosphere. —

Time, 17 Jan. 2023 Amid the challenges, people have resorted to groundwater pumping, which accounts for about 10 % of water use in the San Joaquin Valley, which is home to acres of barren land. —

Evelyn Taft, CBS News, 12 Jan. 2023 For much of the 20th century, the country was little more than a barren desert of fishermen and pearl divers who made their living off the salty water of the Persian Gulf. —

Christina Goldbaum Erin Schaff, New York Times, 10 Dec. 2022 Neighbors have pointed fingers at GW Properties for using slanted and old traffic study data to fast track Willows Crossing as an acceptable bandage to cover mostly barren land that some claim should have remained attractively wooded. —

Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 9 Dec. 2022 While the area is a barren Arctic desert today, back then the group found the landscape to have been lush, with Arctic plants and animals including the extinct mastodon. —

Julia Musto, Fox News, 8 Dec. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'barren.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.