Bare Meaning
/bɛə/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjMinimal; that is or are just sufficient.
adjNaked, uncovered.
Sentence Examples
A bare word of criticism makes her nervous.
It won't be long before the trees are bare.
She likes to walk around in bare feet.
CEFR Practice Quiz
During winter, the trees stand completely ____ of all their leaves.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The room was completely ____, with no furniture or decorations on the walls.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English bare, bar, from Old English bær (“bare, naked, open”), from Proto-West Germanic *baʀ, from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare, naked”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós, from *bʰos- (“bare, barefoot”). Cognate with Scots bare, bair (“bare”), Saterland Frisian bar (“bare”), West Frisian baar (“bare”), Dutch bar (“bare”), German bar (“bare”), Swedish bar (“bare”), Icelandic ber (“bare”), Lithuanian basas (“barefoot, bare”), Polish bosy (“barefoot”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Nature indeed furnishes us with the bare necessaries of life, but traffic gives us a great variety of what is useful"
— 1711 May 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, May 19, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 69; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
""I refuse to show myself out of doors in my bare feet," the Centipede said. "I have to get my boots on again first.""
— 1961, Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach, Knopf, page 46:
"Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare."
— 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, retrieved 31 Oct 2012:
"The phone would answer, we'd go round the corner, pass something to someone, go back and we'd have bare dough, we'd have bare money in our pocket."
— 2005 July 13, Ryan, quotee, “‘We like the easy money. We like the lifestyle’”, in The Guardian:
"You shagged bare lads, you're a little sket / Have you heard your bars? They're fucking pept"
— 2016 December 3, Millie B, “Soph Aspin Send”, performed by Millie B:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
During winter, the trees stand completely ____ of all their leaves.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The room was completely ____, with no furniture or decorations on the walls.