pare

verb

ˈper 

pared; paring

transitive verb

1

: to trim off an outside, excess, or irregular part of

pare apples

paring his nails

2

: to diminish or reduce by or as if by paring

pare expenses

the novel was pared down to 200 pages

parer noun

Synonyms of pare

• shave
• cut
• trim

Examples of pare in a Sentence

The company has to find a way to pare expenses.

pared the stray branches on the tree

Recent Examples on the Web

Treasury yields retreated from a two-decade high as traders pared bets on further Fed tightening after last month's rate hike. — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2026

Still, paring down can declutter cupboards and lead to a smaller collection that'll actually get used. — ABC News, 21 Sep. 2026

Oil prices fell around 2% on hopes that Saudi Arabia was moving to restore about half of crude shipments within days after they were disrupted by the stoppage of its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, before paring losses. — September 18, CBS News, 18 Sep. 2026

Levi texted me photos; the out-of-control grass-scape had been pared back to a short, scruffy layer. — Ingfei Chen, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English paren, borrowed from Anglo-French parer "to make, prepare, adorn, trim, cut off," going back to Latin parāre "to supply, provide, make ready," probably verbal derivative of a nominal base *paro-, formed from parere "to give birth to, bring into being, produce" — more at parturient

Note: The Latin verb is alternatively taken as a direct outcome of an Indo-European present formation *pr̥h₃-i̯e-, but the phonetic development has been questioned. Most of the numerous compound verbs formed from parāre, as apparāre "to prepare" (see apparatus), comparāre "to prepare, collect, muster," disparāre "to divide" (see disparate), praeparāre "to furnish beforehand, prepare," reparāre "to recover, restore" (see repair entry 1), sēparāre "to divide" (see separate entry 1), fail to show vowel weakening. The verbs imperāre "to levy, order, command" (see emperor) and properāre "to hasten" (perhaps of independent origin) are for uncertain reasons exceptions. The Romance development in sense from "prepare" to a more concrete "cut (the peeling from), trim"—well attested in Old French—has become virtually the only sense in English, with the broader French meaning "prepare, adorn, decorate" being only marginally attested.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing pare

• pare to the bone

Rhymes for pare

• air
• ayre
• bahr
• bare
• blare
• care
• chair
• claire
• ere
• err
• eyre
• fair

Kids Definition

pare

verb

ˈpa(ə)r 

ˈpe(ə)r

pared; paring

1

: to trim off the outside or the ends of

2

: to reduce as if by paring