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Barren - 8 dictionary results

bar⋅ren

  [bar-uhn]
Use Barren in a Sentence
–adjective
1. not producing or incapable of producing offspring; sterile: a barren woman.
2. unproductive; unfruitful: barren land.
3. without capacity to interest or attract: a barren period in American architecture.
4. mentally unproductive; dull; stupid.
5. not producing results; fruitless: a barren effort.
6. destitute; bereft; lacking (usually fol. by of): barren of tender feelings.
–noun
7. Usually, barrens. level or slightly rolling land, usually with a sandy soil and few trees, and relatively infertile.
Origin:
1200–50; ME bareyn(e), barayn(e) < AF barai(gn)e, OF brahaigne (F bréhaigne (of animals) sterile), akin to Sp breña scrubby, uncultivated ground, Upper It barena land along a lagoon covered by high water; appar < Celtic, cf. Welsh braenar, Ir branar fallow land, but derivational details unclear

Related forms:
bar⋅ren⋅ly, adverb
bar⋅ren⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. childless, unprolific, infertile. 2. infertile, depleted, waste. See bare 1 . 5. ineffectual, ineffective.

Antonyms:
1–6. fertile.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Barren
bar·ren   (bār'ən)   
adj.  
    1. Not producing offspring.
    2. Incapable of producing offspring.
  2. Lacking vegetation, especially useful vegetation.
  3. Unproductive of results or gains; unprofitable: barren efforts. See Synonyms at futile.
  4. Devoid of something specified: writing barren of insight. See Synonyms at empty.
  5. Lacking in liveliness or interest.
n.  A tract of unproductive land, often with a scrubby growth of trees. Often used in the plural.

[Middle English barreine, from Old French brahaigne, perhaps of Germanic origin.]
bar'ren·ly adv., bar'ren·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Barren

Bar"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. barau, baru, fasting.]

1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; -- said of women and female animals.

She was barren of children. --Bp. Hall.

2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; ?rile. "Barren mountain tracts." --Macaulay.

3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.

Brilliant but barren reveries. --Prescott.

Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter. --Swift.

4. Mentally dull; stupid. --Shak.

Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which as neither stamens nor pistils.

Barren Grounds (Geog.), a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions.

Barren Ground bear (Zo["o]l.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe.

Barren Ground caribou (Zo["o]l.), a small reindeer (Rangifer Gr[oe]nlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.

Barren

Bar"ren\, n. 1. A tract of barren land.

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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Barren
Spanish: estéril, baldío (tierra), infértil,
German: unfruchtbar,
Japanese: 不毛の
More Translations »

barren 
c.1300, from O.Fr. baraigne "barren" (12c.), perhaps originally brahain, of obscure derivation, perhaps from a Gmc. language. Originally used of women in England, of land in France.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: bar·ren
Pronunciation: 'bar-&n
Function: adjective
: incapable of producing offspring —used especially of females or matings —bar·ren·ness /-&n-n&s/ noun
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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barren bar·ren (bār'ən)
adj.

  1. Not producing offspring.
  2. Incapable of producing offspring.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Barren

For a woman to be barren was accounted a severe punishment among the Jews (Gen. 16:2; 30:1-23; 1 Sam. 1:6, 27; Isa. 47:9; 49:21; Luke 1:25). Instances of barrenness are noticed (Gen. 11:30; 25:21; 29:31; Judg. 13:2, 3; Luke 1:7, 36).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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