What does "naked" mean?
simple past and past participle of nake
Naked
/ˈneɪkɪd/ adj, verb, slang
adj, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: simple past and past participle of nake
- Grammar: naked is listed as adj, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: bare, nude, absolute, apparent.
- Useful contrasts: clothed, decent, dressed.
- Usage evidence: You can't go naked in this hotel.
How to use "naked"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "naked" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "naked" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "naked" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "naked" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "naked" is acting as adj, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "bare" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "naked", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Verb
- 1 simple past and past participle of nake form-of, participle, past
Adjective
- 1 Bare, not covered by clothing.
"He was as naked as the day he was born."
- 2 Lacking some clothing; clothed only in underwear. colloquial, obsolete
"For no body would staye to give them intelligence, the countrey people running evry wher out of ther waye, and some of them flying out of ther bedds nacked in their shirts, who runne to the neerest rockes on the sea syde; so formidable was ther very name."
- 3 Unadorned, without decoration or circumlocution; put bluntly. figuratively
"This is the naked truth."
- 4 Involving naked people.
"So here I went the first time into a naked bed, only my drawers on; and did sleep pretty well: but still both sleeping and waking had a fear of fire in my heart, that I took little rest."
- 5 Unarmed. obsolete
"You an’t even with me yet, ſays ſhe; I ſcorn as much to take up a Sword againſt a Naked Man; as you ought to have ſcorn’d, if you had been a Gentleman, to give the Lie to a Woman."
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 Lacking some sort of covering, protection, or accoutrement which might otherwise be expected.
"The tendrils of the naked flame stretched into the skies."
- 7 Lacking some sort of covering, protection, or accoutrement which might otherwise be expected.; Unaided; not using an optical device such as telescope or binoculars.
"If all celestial bodies visible to the naked eye are thus mapped on the celestial sphere, it becomes apparent that the vast majority of them remain in fixed patterns with respect to each other: They form recognizable constellations that, in turn, remain unchangeably distributed."
- 8 Lacking some sort of covering, protection, or accoutrement which might otherwise be expected.; Unsheathed, bare.
"There was a knock at the door. “Enter,” said the princess. An officer appeared with his naked sword in his hand."
- 9 Lacking some sort of covering, protection, or accoutrement which might otherwise be expected.; Without a condom.
"I entered her naked and came in her too."
- 10 Lacking some sort of covering, protection, or accoutrement which might otherwise be expected.; Sold by someone who does not, at that time, own the underlying asset to cover the contract.
"a naked put; a naked call"
- 11 Lacking some sort of covering, protection, or accoutrement which might otherwise be expected.; Uncomfortable or vulnerable, as if missing something important. figuratively
"I feel naked without my mobile phone."
- 12 Lacking some sort of covering, protection, or accoutrement which might otherwise be expected.; Lacking some ingredient, component, or additive usually present.
"a naked burrito (i.e. one without a tortilla)"
- 13 Lacking resources or means, poor. literary
"I knowe my self moost naked in al artes, / My comune ne vulgare eke moost interupte, / And I conversaunte and born in the partes / Where my natyfe langage is moost corrupt, / And with most sundry tonges myxt and rupte."
- 14 Lacking (something) or devoid (of something) [with of].
"Freewill is made naked of all maner merite."
- 15 Blank, clean, empty. obsolete
"For in the first it finds the mind naked and unprepossessed with any former notions, and so easily and insensibly gains upon the assent, grows up with it, and incorporates into it."
- 16 Barren, having no foliage, unvegetated.
- 17 Not hidden within an event horizon and thus observable from other parts of spacetime.
Adjective
- 1 having no clothes on the body wordnet
- 2 lacking any cover wordnet
- 3 devoid of elaboration or diminution or concealment; bare and pure wordnet
- 4 having no protecting or concealing cover wordnet
- 5 (of the eye or ear e.g.) without the aid of an optical or acoustical device or instrument wordnet
Antonyms
Example
"You can't go naked in this hotel."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "naked"?
Common synonyms include: bare, nude, absolute, apparent, apparent, au naturel.
How do you use "naked" in a sentence?
You can't go naked in this hotel.
How do you pronounce "naked"?
Pronounced /ˈneɪkɪd/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English naked, from Old English nacod, from Proto-West Germanic *nak(k)wad, from Proto-Germanic *nakwadaz, from Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- (“naked”). Doublet of nude (remotely).
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.