bare

[[t]be͟ə(r)[/t]]

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barer, barest, bares, baring, bared

1) ADJ If a part of your body is bare, it is not covered by any clothing.

She was wearing only a thin robe over a flimsy nightdress, and her feet were bare...

She had bare arms and a bare neck.

2) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n A bare surface is not covered or decorated with anything.

They would have liked bare wooden floors throughout the house.

3) ADJ-GRADED If a tree or a branch is bare, it has no leaves on it.

...an old, twisted tree, its bark shaggy, many of its limbs brittle and bare.

4) ADJ-GRADED If a room, cupboard, or shelf is bare, it is empty.

His fridge was bare apart from three very withered tomatoes...

He led me through to a bare, draughty interviewing room.

5) ADJ-GRADED An area of ground that is bare has no plants growing on it.

That's probably the most bare, bleak, barren and inhospitable island I've ever seen.

6) ADJ-GRADED: det ADJ If someone gives you the bare facts or the barest details of something, they tell you only the most basic and important things.

Newspaper reporters were given nothing but the bare facts by the Superintendent in charge of the investigation.

Syn:

plain

Ant:

detailed

7) ADJ-GRADED: det ADJ If you talk about the bare minimum or the bare essentials, you mean the very least that is necessary.

The army would try to hold the western desert with a bare minimum of forces...

These are the bare essentials you'll need to dress your baby during the first few months.

Syn:

absolute

8) ADJ: a ADJ amount (emphasis) Bare is used in front of an amount to emphasize how small it is.

Sales are growing for premium wines, but at a bare 2 percent a year.

Syn:

mere

9) VERB If you bare something, you uncover it and show it. [WRITTEN]

[V n] Walsh bared his teeth in a grin...

[V n] He bared his muscular, hairy chest for a women's magazine.

10) the bare bones → see bone

11) PHRASE: PHR after v If someone does something with their bare hands, they do it without using any weapons or tools.

Police believe the killer punched her to death with his bare hands...

Rescuers were using their bare hands to reach the trapped miners.

12) PHRASE: V inflects If you lay something bare, you uncover it completely so that it can then be seen.

The clearing out of disused workshops laid bare thousands of Italianate glazed tiles.

Syn:

expose

13) PHRASE: V inflects If you lay bare something or someone, you reveal or expose them.

No one wants to expose themselves, lay their feelings bare.

14) PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR to n If you bare your soul, you tell someone your most secret thoughts and feelings.

Few men would have bared their soul to a woman as he had.