barrenness
Use Barrenness in a sentence
ən 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.
noun
7.
Usually, barrens. level or slightly rolling land, usually with a sandy soil and few trees, and relatively infertile.
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Barrenness
is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
Origin:
1200–50; Middle English bareyn(e), barayn(e) < Anglo-French barai(gn)e, Old French brahaigne (French bréhaigne (of animals) sterile), akin to Spanish breña scrubby, uncultivated ground, Upper Italian barena land along a lagoon covered by high water; apparently < Celtic, compare Welsh braenar, Irish branar fallow land, but derivational details unclear
1200–50; Middle English bareyn(e), barayn(e) < Anglo-French barai(gn)e, Old French brahaigne (French bréhaigne (of animals) sterile), akin to Spanish breña scrubby, uncultivated ground, Upper Italian barena land along a lagoon covered by high water; apparently < Celtic, compare Welsh braenar, Irish branar fallow land, but derivational details unclear
Related forms
bar·ren·ly, adverb
bar·ren·ness, noun
un·bar·ren, adjective
un·bar·ren·ly, adverb
un·bar·ren·ness, noun
Synonyms
1. childless, unprolific, infertile. 2. infertile, depleted, waste. See bare1. 5. ineffectual, ineffective.
1. childless, unprolific, infertile. 2. infertile, depleted, waste. See bare1. 5. ineffectual, ineffective.
Antonyms
1–6. fertile.
1–6. fertile.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To barrenness
Collins
World English Dictionary
barren (ˈbærən) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | incapable of producing offspring, seed, or fruit; sterile: a barren tree |
| 2. | unable to support the growth of crops, etc; unproductive; bare: barren land |
| 3. | lacking in stimulation or ideas; dull: a rather barren play |
| 4. | not producing worthwhile results; unprofitable: a barren period in a writer's life |
| 5. | ( |
| 6. | (of rock strata) having no fossils |
| [C13: from Old French brahain, of uncertain origin] | |
| 'barrenly | |
| —adv | |
| 'barrenness | |
| —n | |
| barren (ˈbærən) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | incapable of producing offspring, seed, or fruit; sterile: a barren tree |
| 2. | unable to support the growth of crops, etc; unproductive; bare: barren land |
| 3. | lacking in stimulation or ideas; dull: a rather barren play |
| 4. | not producing worthwhile results; unprofitable: a barren period in a writer's life |
| 5. | ( |
| 6. | (of rock strata) having no fossils |
| [C13: from Old French brahain, of uncertain origin] | |
| 'barrenly | |
| —adv | |
| 'barrenness | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
barren
c.1300, 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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
barren bar·ren (bār'ən)
adj.
Not producing offspring.
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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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Easton
Bible Dictionary
Barren definition
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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Example sentences
All life was absent, both from them and from the fantastic barrenness of the bowlder-strewn land at their bases.
What comes through in the critics' lives is a poignant barrenness.
Some coal-mines advantageously situated, cannot be wrought on account of their barrenness.
Meanwhile, physics is stuck in a paradigm doomed to barrenness.
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