bare
pronunciation
How to pronounce bare in British English:
UK [beə(r)]
How to pronounce bare in American English:
US [ber]
-
- Verb:
- lay bare
- make public
- lay bare
-
- Adjective:
- denuded of leaves
- completely unclothed
- lacking in amplitude or quantity
- without the natural or usual covering
- not having a protective covering
- just barely adequate or within a lower limit
- apart from anything else; without additions or modifications
- lacking a surface finish such as paint
- providing no shelter or sustenance
- having extraneous everything removed including contents
- showing ground without the usual covering of grass
Word Origin
- bare
- bare: [OE] Bare is an ancient word, traceable back to an Indo-European *bhosos. Descendants of this in non-Germanic languages include Lithuanian basas ‘barefoot’, but for the most part it is the Germanic languages that have adopted the word. Germanic *bazaz produced German and Swedish bar, Dutch baar, and, via Old English bær, modern English bare.
- bare (v.)
- Old English barian, from bare (adj.). Related: Bared; baring.
- bare (adj.)
- Old English bær "naked, uncovered, unclothed," from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (cognates: German bar, Old Norse berr, Dutch baar), from PIE *bhosos (cognates: Armenian bok "naked;" Old Church Slavonic bosu, Lithuanian basas "barefoot"). Meaning "sheer, absolute" (c. 1200) is from the notion of "complete in itself."
Example
- 1. Lisa asked , and in response our mother raised a bare foot .
- 2. I imagine this as a narrow , shadowy corridor with dim bare walls .
- 3. Much was made of her bare , tanned shoulders , her expansive wardrobe and her stoicism .
- 4. The yew clasped him tight in her bare , flayed arms .
- 5. As bare ground it made 15 million .