Barren

//ˈbæɹən//

Synonyms for "barren" (195 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (39)

sterile desolate abortive acarpous arid bare barrens blah bland blank bleached bleak bloodless bootless brush bush celibate characterless childless clear

Show 12 more words

cold colorless counterproductive dead death valley depleted desert deserted desolation destitute devoid dismal

Adjective(5 words)

bare bleak desolate destitute devoid

Adjective(2 words)

bereft destitute

Strong matches (59)

draggy drained drearisome dreary dried up dried-up dry dryasdust dull dust bowl dusty earthbound effete elephantine empty etiolated exhausted fade fallow fatuitous

Show 36 more words

Adjective(2 words)

free innocent

Adjective(1 words)

fruitless

Related words (97)

literal minded lonely low spirited low-spirited meagre menopausal mundane nonfertile nonproducing nonproductive nonprolific nonremunerative nugacious nugatory null null and void of no force otiose outback pale

Show 73 more words

Adjective(1 words)

stark

Adjective(1 words)

sterile

Noun(2 words)

waste wasteland

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

8 relation types

More general

2 entries

wild wilderness

Antonyms

2 entries

fertile fruitful

Synonyms

3 entries

desolate destitute sterile

derived

10 entries

barren strawberry barren-ground caribou barrenly barrenness barrenwort nonbarren overbarren semibarren unbarren urchin barren

etymologically related_to

1 entries

bare

is a

1 entries

wilderness

related to

5 entries

bleak fertility infertile sterile vegetation

similar

6 entries

infertile inhospitable nonexistent sterile unfertile

Translations

181 translations across 50 languages.

Albanian

3 entries

djerrë adj (unproductive)
shterp adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
shterp adj (infertile)

Ancient Greek

1 entries

στεῖρος adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Armenian

4 entries

ամուլ adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
ամուլ adj (infertile)
անպտղաբեր adj (infertile)
չբեր adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Azerbaijani

3 entries

məshulsuz adj (infertile)
qısır adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
sonsuz adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Basque

2 entries

antzu adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
antzu adj (infertile)

Belarusian

2 entries

няпло́дны adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
я́лавы adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Bulgarian

4 entries

безплоден adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
неплодороден adj (infertile)
ялов adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
пустош noun (area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place)

Central Kurdish

2 entries

بێبەر adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
بێبەر adj (infertile)

Chichewa

2 entries

chipalamba noun (area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place)
nkhwalangwa noun (area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place)

Chinese Mandarin

2 entries

荒芜 adj (bleak)
贫瘠 adj (infertile)

Czech

1 entries

neplodný adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Dutch

2 entries

onvruchtbaar adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
steriel adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Esperanto

3 entries

malfekunda adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
malfekunda adj (infertile)
senfrukta adj (unproductive)

Estonian

1 entries

aher adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Finnish

4 entries

hedelmätön adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
hedelmätön adj (infertile)
karu adj (infertile)
maho adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

French

1 entries

stérile adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

German

4 entries

ausgedörrt adj (bleak)
ausgetrocknet adj (bleak)
dürr adj (infertile)
dürr adj (bleak)

Gothic

1 entries

𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 adj (bleak)

Greek

4 entries

άκαρπος adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
άκαρπος adj (infertile)
στέρφος adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
στείρος adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Hiligaynon

1 entries

baúg adj (bleak)

Hindi

3 entries

अनुपजाऊ adj (infertile)
बाँझ adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
बाँझ adj (infertile)

Hungarian

3 entries

meddő adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
sivár adj (bleak)
terméketlen adj (infertile)

Indonesian

1 entries

tandus adj (infertile)

Interlingua

2 entries

infertile adj (infertile)
sterile adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Irish

3 entries

ocrach adj (infertile)
seasc adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
seasc adj (infertile)

Italian

4 entries

desolato adj (bleak)
infertile adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
infruttifero adj (infertile)
sterile adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Japanese

3 entries

不妊の adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
不毛な adj (infertile)
不毛な adj (unproductive)

Latin

2 entries

sterilis adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
sterilis adj (infertile)

Macedonian

3 entries

неплоден adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
јалов adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
пу́стош noun (area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place)

Malay

1 entries

mandul adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Middle English

3 entries

bareyne adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
bareyne adj (infertile)
bareyne adj (unproductive)

Māori

4 entries

hahore adj (infertile)
hūiki adj (infertile)
matapā adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
pukupā adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Nahuatl

2 entries

tetzacatl adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
tetzacatl adj (infertile)

Ottoman Turkish

4 entries

قیراچ adj (infertile)
قیصیر adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
قیصیر adj (infertile)
چوراق adj (infertile)

Persian

4 entries

بیبر adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
بیبر adj (infertile)
بیبر adj (unproductive)
بیثمر adj (unproductive)

Plautdietsch

3 entries

eed adj (bleak)
fooss adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
fooss adj (infertile)

Polish

4 entries

bezpłodny adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
bezpłodny adj (infertile)
bezpłodny adj (unproductive)
jałowy adj (infertile)

Portuguese

4 entries

estéril adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
estéril adj (infertile)
infértil adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
infértil adj (infertile)

Romanian

4 entries

arid adj (infertile)
nefertil adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
sterilă adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
sterp adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Russian

4 entries

беспло́дный adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
беспло́дный adj (infertile)
неплодоро́дный adj (infertile)
я́ловый adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Scots

1 entries

eild adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Scottish Gaelic

4 entries

aimrid adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
aimrid adj (infertile)
fàsaichte adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
fàsaichte adj (infertile)

Serbo-Croatian

4 entries

jȁlov adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
jȁlov adj (infertile)
nèplodan adj (unproductive)
òskudan adj (bleak)

Slovak

1 entries

neplodný adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Slovene

3 entries

jalov adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
jalov adj (infertile)
jalovišče noun (area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place)

Spanish

4 entries

estéril adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
estéril adj (infertile)
infecundo adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
infecundo adj (infertile)

Swedish

3 entries

karg adj (infertile)
ofruktbar adj (infertile)
ödemark noun (area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place)

Tagalog

1 entries

kumil adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Thai

2 entries

กันดาร adj (infertile)
เป็นหมัน adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Ukrainian

3 entries

безплі́дний adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
неплі́дний adj (unable to bear children; sterile)
я́ловий adj (unable to bear children; sterile)

Sample sentences

35 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

The trees are barren or bear only small fruit.

Source: tatoeba (43787)

He is barren of creative spirit.

Source: tatoeba (300815)

He had to spend many barren days.

Source: tatoeba (301117)

I am not a rhinoceros, I am not a tiger, but I am led into this barren wild...

Source: tatoeba (992201)

Showing 4 of 35 available sentences.

More for "barren"

Meaning Antonyms Sentences Word Type

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.