barren

Meaning

Adj

1. (not-comparable) Not bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile.
2. (not-comparable) Not bearing seed or fruit.
3. Of poor fertility, infertile; not producing vegetation; desert, waste.
4. (with-of) Devoid, lacking.
5. Devoid of interest or attraction, poor, bleak.
6. Unproductive, fruitless, unprofitable; empty, hollow, vain.
7. Mentally dull or unproductive; stupid or intellectually fallow.

Noun

1. An area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place.
2. (plural-normally) In particular, a usually elevated and flat expanse of land that only supports the growth of small trees and shrubs, and sometimes mosses or heathers, berries, and other marshy or moory vegetation, but little agriculture and few people.

Synonyms

sterile

infertile

unproductive

dry

childless

unfruitful

waste

desolate

fruitless

bare

wasteland

desert

🏜️

stark

devoid

arid

bleak

innocent

😇

destitute

deserted

gaunt

uncultivated

free

🆓

dead

💀

unfertile

wild

poor

impotent

unavailing

effete

farrow

abandoned

dreary

hardscrabble

busyness

business

battery

🔋

bury

burrow

barren land

army

bunch

building

brood

deaf

brace

barrel

acarpous

denuded

crude

bony

Translations

stérile

estéril

sterile

unfruchtbar

estéril

onvruchtbaar

désert

🏜️

sterilis

öde

infértil

yermo

karg

infertile

άγονος

árido

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbæɹən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: bareyne

In summary

From Middle English bareyne, from Anglo-Norman baraigne, baraing (“sterile; barren”), of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *baʀ (“bare; barren”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare”). If so, a doublet of bare.