Barren Meaning
/ˈbæɹən/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile.
adjNot bearing seed or fruit.
Sentence Examples
The trees are barren or bear only small fruit.
He is barren of creative spirit.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the long drought, the once fertile fields became completely ____ and lifeless.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The landscape was dry and ____, with very few plants growing there city.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse."
— 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"The druids […] believed that mistletoe could make barren animals fecund, and that it was an antidote to all poisons."
— 2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, p. 7]”, in The New York Times:
"barren mountain tracts"
— 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
"We have descended Tian Shan and entered the Taklamakan Desert, a barren landscape painted in ecru—no shrubs, no grass, only waves upon waves of naked ridges the color of buff, the highest few spotted with white specks of snow."
— 2009, Y.J. Zhu, “Taklamakan Desert Moon Ride”, in Lucy McCauley, editor, The Best Women's Travel Writing 2009: True Stories from Around the World (Travelers' Tales), →ISBN, →ISSN, →OCLC, →OL, page 154:
"Terraforming even a barren planet often involves significant financial and ethical hurdles."
— 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Technology: Terraforming Codex entry:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the long drought, the once fertile fields became completely ____ and lifeless.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The landscape was dry and ____, with very few plants growing there city.