1
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

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
3

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

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bald Students often pose for graduation photos beside the oversized bald heads or rub them for good luck before exams. Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 20 Oct. 2025 The peculiar requirement is an homage to Emma Stone’s character in the film, who is a bald-headed CEO who ends up kidnapped and suspected of being an alien. Andrew McGowan, Variety, 18 Oct. 2025 Some of them had hair, some were bald. Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025 Signs Its Time To Divide Perennials When flowers are smaller than normal, the plant develops a bald spot in the center of the crown, and bottom leaves are sparse, the plant probably needs to be divided. Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 15 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for bald
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bald
Adjective
  • Markle’s commitment to bare feet comes with bigger health benefits.
    Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Walls on the first floor of the Capitol are bare as portraits of Tennessee governors usually displayed outside the Governor’s Office and Old Supreme Court Chambers have been taken down to prevent them from being damaged.
    Vivian Jones, Nashville Tennessean, 24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • While House Republicans can pass legislation with a simple majority vote, Senate Republicans cannot advance most matters without meeting a 60-vote threshold.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2025
  • But in stoppage time, Miami was gifted a third goal when Jordi Alba crossed from the left and keeper Willis, colliding with defender Walker Zimmerman, spilled the ball right to Messi, who had the simplest of tap-ins.
    The Athletic Staff, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • With its investments in AI infrastructure and obvious strengths on the power front, this is a country that is building out data centers and positioning itself as a hub for AI, entertainment, sports, finance, high-tech manufacturing and more.
    Diane Brady, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025
  • The analyst pointed to Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, as an obvious artificial intelligence beneficiary.
    Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Defenseman Jacob Trouba stopped what seemed like a sure goal with his stick, helping goaltender Jakob Dostal by knocking away a shot headed toward an exposed side of the net.
    Josh Gross, Oc Register, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Dolphins, being long-lived and highly exposed, can serve as nature's early warning system.
    Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Harmlessly wandering about the village, belly and breasts exposed—at times completely naked—Pagli discomforts established codes of etiquette.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
  • The emperor was naked, a fool who’d been had.
    Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • In March, a Turkish expat in Montevideo, Uruguay, spotted that unmistakable baby face recklessly driving a brand-new white Ferrari and caught him on a cell phone video.
    Moisés Naím, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Closing these gaps — by proving cold chain integrity and making preparation steps unmistakable — is key to preventing devastating safety breakdowns and the category-wide PR fallout that can follow a single recall.
    Darin Detwiler, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Excluding plain water, there’s no other drink that enjoys such a breadth of uses.
    Kate Bernot, Bon Appetit Magazine, 29 Oct. 2025
  • The couple appeared to be wearing matching plain white t-shirts.
    Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The Hurricanes’ only public question mark among key contributors entering the week was edge rusher Akheem Mesidor, who sustained an apparent foot injury in the fourth quarter against Louisville.
    Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The Silver Hugo for Best Sound goes to SOUND OF FALLING for its ability to echo, in both its silences and thunders, the constant hum of secrets passed from one generation to the next in the apparent domestic quiet that both conceals and reveals.
    Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 24 Oct. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bald.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bald. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on bald

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!