barren Hear it!

barren Definition

bar·ren (bar′ən, ber′-)

adjective

  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 fruit; having little or no vegetation barren soil
  4. not bringing useful results; unproductive; unprofitable a barren plan
  5. lacking appeal, interest, or meaning; dull; boring
  6. empty; devoid barren of creative spirit

Etymology: ME barain < OFr baraigne, brehaigne, orig. used of land

noun

  1. an area of unproductive land
  2. land with poor soil and very few shrubs, trees, etc.

barren Related Forms
bar′·renly adverb bar′·ren·ness noun
barren Synonyms

barren

modif.

  1. Incapable of producing young

    sterile, impotent, infertile, childless; see sterile 1.

  2. Lacking vegetation

    fallow, unproductive, desolate, arid; see sterile 2.

  3. Without intellectual interest

    insipid, dry, boring, stupid; see dull 4.

  4. Unprofitable

    fruitless, unproductive, profitless; see waste, worthless 1. See syn. study at naked, sterile.

barren Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: She can bring blight to a nations crops or make a woman barren.
  • leave: But the evidence found on Mars suggests that this is not the first time we have left a planet barren.

Modifies a noun

  • wasteland: The barren icy wasteland slowly warmed to become thick woodland.
  • brome: In grassland, cutting should be done early enough to prevent barren brome seeding.
  • cage: The barren cages at Darley Oak provide them with nothing to live for.
  • desert: In a country where much of the land is barren desert, water is a precious natural resource.
  • wilderness: On the 4 th day, you will set off across the barren wilderness to complete a 45 - 50 mile stage.
  • hillside: Passing through rocky, barren hillsides we later took another short break.

Modifying Another Word

  • seemingly: Born to a seemingly barren women, Joseph's parents think he is a'miracle child ' sent by God for a special purpose.
  • utterly: This near darkness, these utterly barren, sterile conditions is their home for over a month - about one-fifth of their lives.
  • rather: Further funding was found to turn the rather barren courtyard into a welcoming site.
  • otherwise: From the beginning of recorded history, the River Nile has been a blessing in an otherwise barren, inhospitable world.
  • apparently: The apparently barren, forsaken wife will bear miraculously, as Sarah did ( Is.
  • fairly: This village is three kilometers from the border with Mali, and has a fairly barren, Saharan aspect.

Used with adjective complement

  • appear: Sandy, shingle and gravel shores occur on more exposed shores and may appear barren.
  • remain: The land is heavily mined, and with winter setting in the fields remain barren.
  • become: Even tho the scene had become more barren, he was still getting regular bookings through out the UK and Europe.
  • look: Afghanistan, a country troubled with conflict and drought, looks barren in recent news footage.
  • consider: Aries, Sagittarius and Aquarius are also considered rather barren.
  • leave: MULDER: During my investigation into your illness I found out the reason why you were left barren.
barren Quotes

Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside, A teeming mistress, but a barren bride.

—Pope, Alexander

It seems to me a barren thing this Conservatismöan unhappy cross-breed, the mule of politics that engenders nothing.

—Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

Be she barren, be she old, Be she slut, or be she scold, Eat my oysters, and lie near her, She'll be fruitful, never fear her.

—Swift,Jonathan

I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry,'tis all barren.

—Sterne, Laurence

For the crown of our life as it closes Is darkness, the fruit thereof dust; No thorns go as deep as a rose's, And love is more cruel than lust. Time turns the old days to derision, Our loves into corpses or wives; And marriage and death and division Make barren our lives.

—Swinburne, Algernon Charles

Speech is often barren; but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full nest.Your still fowl, blinking at youwithout remark, mayall thewhilebesittingonone addled egg; and when it takes to cackling will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion.

—Eliot, George pseudonym of  MaryAnn Evans