barren

barren
[[t]bæ̱rən[/t]]
1) ADJ-GRADED A barren landscape is dry and bare, and has very few plants and no trees.

...the Tibetan landscape of high barren mountains.

Ant:
2) ADJ-GRADED Barren land consists of soil that is so poor that plants cannot grow in it.

He also wants to use the water to irrigate barren desert land.

Syn:
3) ADJ-GRADED: oft ADJ of n If you describe something such as an activity or a period of your life as barren, you mean that you achieve no success during it or that it has no useful results. [WRITTEN]

...an empty exercise barren of utility.

...the player, who ended a 14-month barren spell by winning the Tokyo event in October...

As the leaves of autumn wither and fall, so has my own life become barren.

Syn:
Derived words:
barrenness N-UNCOUNT oft N of n

...a film that would force audiences to confront the barrenness of contemporary life.

4) ADJ: oft ADJ of n (disapproval) If you describe a room or a place as barren, you do not like it because it has almost no furniture or other objects in it. [WRITTEN]

The room was austere, nearly barren of furniture or decoration...

Six stale loaves of brown bread formed a dark blot on the otherwise barren shelves.

5) ADJ A barren woman or female animal is unable to have babies. [OLD-FASHIONED]

...the traumas experienced by the maternally inclined woman who finds herself barren.

...a three-year-old barren mare.

Syn:
Derived words:
barrenness N-UNCOUNT

...a ceremony designed to cure women of barrenness.


English dictionary. 2008.

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  • Barren — as a place name can refer to: *Barren County, Kentucky *Barren Island (Andaman Islands) *Barren Island, Brooklyn *Barren River LakeBarren can also refer to: *Barren County (album) *Barren County Progress *Barren Realms Elite *Barren Strawberry… …   Wikipedia

  • Barren — Bar ren (b[a^]r ren), a. [OE. barein, OF. brehaing, fem. brehaigne, baraigne, F. br[ e]haigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. br[ e]kha[ n], markha[ n], sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • barren — [bar′ən, ber′ən] adj. [ME barain < OFr baraigne, brehaigne, orig. used of land] 1. that cannot produce offspring; sterile [a barren woman] 2. not bearing or pregnant at the regular time: said of animals or plants 3. not producing crops or… …   English World dictionary

  • barren — I adjective arid, bare, childless, desolate, disused, empty, fallow, fruitless, functionless, idle, impotent, inactive, inane, infecund, infertile, insufficient, issueless, nonfertile, nonproducing, nonproductive, profitless, scarce, shallow,… …   Law dictionary

  • barren — (adj.) c.1200, from O.Fr. baraigne, baraing sterile, barren (12c.), perhaps originally brahain, of obscure derivation, perhaps from a Germanic language. In England, originally used of women, of land in France. Of land in English from late 14c. As …   Etymology dictionary

  • barren of — formal : not having (something) : ↑without a hillside barren of trees • • • Main Entry: ↑barren …   Useful english dictionary

  • Barren — Bar ren, n. 1. A tract of barren land. [1913 Webster] 2. pl. Elevated lands or plains on which grow small trees, but not timber; as, pine barrens; oak barrens. They are not necessarily sterile, and are often fertile. [Amer.] J. Pickering. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Barren [1] — Barren, 1) Canton im südlichen Theile des Staates Kentucky in den Vereinigten Staaten; Flächeninhalt etwa 23 QM.; Boden wellenförmig, in einigen Theilen hügelig, ziemlich fruchtbar. Es finden sich Schwefel u. Salzquellen, u. der Canton besitzt… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Barren [2] — Barren (Mehrzahl Barrens), Bezeichnung für »unfruchtbare« Landstriche in Nordamerika; so besonders für die ursprünglich steppenhaften Hochflächen in Kentucky, auf denen heute erfolgreich Tabak gebaut wird; die kiefernbestandenen Sandebenen in… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Barren [2] — Barren, Turngerät aus zwei parallelen, horizontalen, auf je zwei gleich! hohen Stützen ruhenden Hölzern (Holmen). Höhe und Abstand der Holmen richten sich nach den verschiedenen Altersstufen, von denen das Gerät benutzt wird Gegenwärtig benutzt… …   Lexikon der gesamten Technik

  • barren — [adj1] unable to support growth arid, depleted, desert, desolate, dry, effete, empty, fallow, fruitless, impotent, impoverished, infecund, infertile, parched, sterile, unbearing, uncultivable, unfertile, unfruitful, unproductive, waste; concepts… …   New thesaurus

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