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Barren

//ˈbæɹən// adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile. not-comparable

    "I silently wept as my daughter's husband rejected her. What would she do now that she was no longer a maiden but also barren?"

  2. 2
    Not bearing seed or fruit. not-comparable
  3. 3
    Of poor fertility, infertile; not producing vegetation; desert, waste.

    "barren mountain tracts"

  4. 4
    Devoid, lacking. with-of

    "August 28, 1731, Jonathan Swift, letter to John Gay But schemes are perfectly accidental. Some will appear barren of hints and matter, but prove to be fruitful."

  5. 5
    Devoid of interest or attraction, poor, bleak.

    "As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Unproductive, fruitless, unprofitable; empty, hollow, vain.

    "brilliant but barren reveries"

  2. 7
    Mentally dull or unproductive; stupid or intellectually fallow.

    "Set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too."

Adjective
  1. 1
    completely wanting or lacking wordnet
  2. 2
    not bearing offspring wordnet
  3. 3
    providing no shelter or sustenance wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    An area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place.

    "Sol squinted out over the barrens to where the mountains shimmered in the heat haze."

  2. 2
    an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation wordnet
  3. 3
    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. plural-normally

    "The pine barrens are a site lonely enough to suit any hermit."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

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