bare

1 of 3

adjective

ˈber 

barer; barest

1

a

: lacking a natural, usual, or appropriate covering

b(1)

: lacking clothing

bare feet

(2)

obsolete : bareheaded

c

: lacking any tool or weapon

opened the box with his bare hands

2

: open to view : exposed

laying bare their secrets

3

a

: unfurnished or scantily supplied

a bare room

b

: destitute

bare of all safeguards

4

a

: having nothing left over or added

the bare necessities of life

b

: mere

a bare two hours away

c

: devoid of amplification or adornment

the bare facts

5

obsolete : worthless

bareness noun

bare

2 of 3

verb

ˈber 

bared; baring

transitive verb

: to make or lay (something) bare (see bare entry 1) : uncover

bare

3 of 3

archaic past tense of bear

Did you know?

Usage Note on Bear

There is considerable confusion between the verbs bear and bare. It may help to remember that the verb bare has only one meaning: "to uncover," as in "bare your shoulders" and "a dog baring its teeth." All other uses of the verb are for bear: "bearing children," "the right to bear arms," "bearing up under the stress/weight," "can't bear the thought," "bear south," "it bears repeating."

There is occasional confusion between bear and bare in adjectival uses (as in "he rubbed his bear arms"), but bear is properly a noun and only used like an adjective in the financial phrase bear market. All other uses refer to the state of being uncovered or naked and should therefore be bare: "bare necessities," "bare essentials," "bare arms," "bare bones," "bare-knuckle," and so on.

Did you know?

Usage Note on Bear

There is considerable confusion between the verbs bear and bare. It may help to remember that the verb bare has only one meaning: "to uncover," as in "bare your shoulders" and "a dog baring its teeth." All other uses of the verb are for bear: "bearing children," "the right to bear arms," "bearing up under the stress/weight," "can't bear the thought," "bear south," "it bears repeating."

There is occasional confusion between bear and bare in adjectival uses (as in "he rubbed his bear arms"), but bear is properly a noun and only used like an adjective in the financial phrase bear market. All other uses refer to the state of being uncovered or naked and should therefore be bare: "bare necessities," "bare essentials," "bare arms," "bare bones," "bare-knuckle," and so on.

Synonyms

Adjective

• mere
• very

Verb

• disclose
• discover
• divulge
• expose
• let on (about)
• reveal
• spill
• tell
• unbosom
• uncloak
• uncover
• unmask
• unveil

Choose the Right Synonym for bare

bare, naked, nude, bald, barren mean deprived of naturally or conventionally appropriate covering.

bare implies the removal of what is additional, superfluous, ornamental, or dispensable.

an apartment with bare walls

naked suggests absence of protective or ornamental covering but may imply a state of nature, of destitution, or of defenselessness.

poor half-naked children

nude applies especially to the unclothed human figure.

a nude model posing for art students

bald implies actual or seeming absence of natural covering and may suggest a conspicuous bareness.

a bald mountain peak

barren often suggests aridity or impoverishment or sterility.

barren plains

Examples of bare in a Sentence

Adjective

The brittle-looking branches of bare trees reached up from the horizon, and smoke could be seen curling from the chimneys of the sturdy stone houses in the villages we passed through. —David McAninch, Saveur, November 2008

The dining room is warm and comfortable in a quasi-Tuscan-villa style, with bare wood floors, mottled walls, … and a glass room divider etched with images of grapes. —Colman Andrews, Gourmet, March 2007

A scant two hours after his Derby victory, Monarchos was back in his … stall, beneath a bare bulb, eating carrots from a red bucket. —Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated, 14 May 2001

There was a rug in the front room of the house, but the other floors were bare.

Do not let the bare wires touch.

He covered her bare arms with his coat.

He had a glove on his left hand, but his right hand was bare.

The ground was bare where the statue had stood for years.

There was only one bare shelf.

Her office was pretty bare, having only one desk and one chair.

This is the barest room in the house.

He only told me the bare facts about what happened.

Verb

Ed McMahon calls upon the canine coach to help him settle down his aggressive … terrier, which is nice to Ed but bares its teeth at guests. —TV Guide, 29 Oct.-4 Nov. 2007

You could argue that the very act of conducting a lengthy poll by telephone skews the response pool. What sort of person bares her soul to pollsters for upward of an hour—and during the holiday season yet? —Katha Pollitt, Nation, 4/11 Aug. 2003

When Eastman called Death in the Afternoon (Hemingway's nonfiction book about bullfighting) "a literary style of wearing false hair on the chest," Hemingway had no other options than to bare his hirsute midsection and duke it out with his rival author in front of their editor, Max Perkins. The common mythology is that Hemingway beat Eastman to a bloody pulp, but Perkins' account had Eastman gaining the upper hand. —Will Manley, Booklist, 1 Apr. 2001

The better analogy is to bare all on the talk shows in which ordinary people are encouraged to reveal intimate aspects of their private lives. —Richard A. Posner, New Republic, 21 Aug. 2000

He bared his chest to show the scar.

finally bared the secret that she had kept to herself for so long

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Despite a clear business case for social impact, very few corporations have gone beyond trying to get noticed for doing the bare minimum. —Paul Klein, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024

The ship has seven bars, including my favorite spot, Marina Terrace, and the pool bars of the Beach House and Mistral, where the uniform is swimmers and bare feet. —Chrissie McClatchie, Travel + Leisure, 22 Dec. 2024

Verb

But viewers won't see Murphy in the trailer — except, perhaps, in a quick shot of a zombie that bares a striking resemblance to the Irish star. —Dave Quinn, People.com, 10 Dec. 2024

On Friday's episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the actor talked about stripping down for the upcoming TV special The Real Full Monty, in which he and some fellow male celebrities are set to bare it all (well, most of it) in the name of promoting cancer screening. —Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 7 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Adjective and Verb

Middle English, from Old English bær; akin to Old High German bar naked, Lithuanian basas barefoot

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing bare

• bare bones
• bare essentials
• bare-handed
• bare (it) all
• bare-knuckle
• bare-knuckled
• bare-knuckles
• bare one's soul
• lay bare
• the bare bones
• to a (bare) minimum
• with one's bare hands

Kids Definition

bare

1 of 2 adjective

ˈba(ə)r 

ˈbe(ə)r

barer; barest

1

a

: lacking a covering : naked

trees bare of leaves

b

: lacking any tool or weapon

opened the box with his bare hands

2

: open to view

the scandal was laid bare

3

: empty entry 1 sense 1

the cupboard was bare

4

a

: just enough with nothing to spare

a bare majority

the bare necessities of life

b

: not decorated or added to : plain

the bare facts

a bare outline of the story

barely adverb

bareness noun

bare

2 of 2 verb

bared; baring

: to make or lay bare : uncover, reveal