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as in bare
lacking a usual or natural covering trees that are bald in the winter aren't the best for giving a home year-round privacy

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective bald differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of bald are bare, barren, naked, and nude. While all these words mean "deprived of naturally or conventionally appropriate covering," bald implies actual or seeming absence of natural covering and may suggest a conspicuous bareness.

a bald mountain peak

When can bare be used instead of bald?

Although the words bare and bald have much in common, bare implies the removal of what is additional, superfluous, ornamental, or dispensable.

an apartment with bare walls

Where would barren be a reasonable alternative to bald?

In some situations, the words barren and bald are roughly equivalent. However, barren often suggests aridity or impoverishment or sterility.

barren plains

When might naked be a better fit than bald?

The words naked and bald are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, naked suggests absence of protective or ornamental covering but may imply a state of nature, of destitution, or of defenselessness.

poor half-naked children

When could nude be used to replace bald?

The synonyms nude and bald are sometimes interchangeable, but nude applies especially to the unclothed human figure.

a nude model posing for art students

Examples of bald in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Completing the picture, Harari is bald, bespectacled, and largely vegan. Daniel Immerwahr, The Atlantic, 6 Sep. 2024 Sebastian Stan calls out journalist who refers to his new character with disfigurement as a 'beast' But as Donny's ego grows, so does his waistline, his bald spot, and his exaggerated way of talking, his lips puckering in direct correlation to his spiraling egomania. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 1 Sep. 2024 Initially resembling a bald, shirtless man with bulging eyes, gaping lips and giant ears, arms draped at his side, Zozobra quickly evolved in style and size. Heather Mundt, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Aug. 2024 Available in an impressive 14 shades, including hard-to-find hues like white, ash brown, and auburn, the formula also excels at covering bald patches and extending the life of highlights. Jenny Berg, Vogue, 27 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for bald 

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.

Thesaurus Entries Near bald

Cite this Entry

“Bald.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bald. Accessed 13 Oct. 2024.

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