Barren

Definition: Barren

Barren

Adjective

1. Without offspring; "in some societies a barren woman is rejected by her tribesmen".

2. Not fertile or productive; "a barren tree"; "soil too infertile to sustain real pasture".

3. Providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills"; "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark landscape".

4. Not bearing offspring; "a barren woman"; "learned early in his marriage that he was sterile".

5. Incapable of sustaining life; "the dead and barren Moon".

Noun

1. An uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation; "the barrens of central Africa"; "the trackless wastes of the desert".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "barren" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Bible

Food & Agriculture

Mining

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Barren

Absence

Empty, void; vacant, vacuous; untenanted, unoccupied, uninhabited; tenantless; barren, sterile; desert, deserted; devoid; uninhabitable.

Unproductiveness

Adjective: unproductive, acarpous, inoperative, barren, addled, infertile, unfertile, unprolific, arid, sterile, unfruitful, infecund; sine prole; fallow; teemless, issueless, fruitless; unprofitable; (useless); null and void, of no effect.

Crosswords: Barren

German (bars, ingot, ingots, parallel bars).

It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust, the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; writing credit: Frances Walsh)

Then all we'll have left to call our own is death---that barren mound of earth that serves as paste and mortar to cover our bones (Executive Action; writing credit: Dalton Trumbo)

This is going to be a barren source of amusement (Inherit the Wind; writing credit: Jerome Lawrence; Robert E. Lee)

No, Catherine's his wife and she's barren as a brick; are you going to pray for a miracle (A Man for All Seasons; writing credit: Robert Bolt)

The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos (Play It Again, Sam; writing credit: Woody Allen)

No matter where it's barren (No Matter What; performing artist: Boyzone)

The Barren Gain (1915)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Above the Barren Rock (reference)

• Barren Corn (reference)

• Barren Ground (reference)

• Barren Landshowdown (reference)

• Barren Lives (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Barren County (reference)

• The Tropic of Barren (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Sea view of Barren Islands from the C&GS Ship PATHFINDER. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

Pine barren. Credit: America's Coastlines.

Setting up planting sites at Barren Island for patchy and continuous planting areas. The sites were marked and designated in advance. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

Marking the planting locations at Barren Island. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

At Barren Island, a polyester geotube in the background. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

A high-marsh tide pool at Barren Island. A mute swan is in the background. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

Geotubes being filled at Barren Island. A crane holds the boom that is filling the bag. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

This is an image that shows Barren Island after the restoration work was completed. Dredge material was placed to support the planting. The planting was conducted to allow the marsh to fill in and establish itself before the geotube disintegrated. Prior to the restoration, this area was a high-energy shallow water environment. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

A polyester geotube at Barren Island. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

Barren hills in Central California following a drought. Credit: Tim McCabe.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

His childhood was dead or lost and with it his soul capable of simple joys, and he was drifting amid life like the barren shell of the moon

Gonzalo: Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground, long heath, brown furze, any thing

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Business

The terrain is mostly sand desert, barren mountains, and salt flats. (references)

According to statistics from the Economic Daily, more than 24 million of China's rural population, most of which live in remote and poor mountain regions of the barren west, suffer from water shortages. (references)

Industry reports also say that China will focus its farming mechanization on low and medium-yield farmland improvement, barren mountain and wasteland reclamation and development of grain, cotton, oil and farming produce and sideline product protection. (references)

Economic History

Libya

Terrain: Mostly barren, flat to undulating plains, plateaus, depressions. (references)

Algeria

It is generally barren except for scattered clumps of trees and intermittent bush and pasture land. (references)

Mauritania

Terrain: Northern four-fifths barren desert; southern 20% mainly Sahelian with small scale irrigated and rainfed agriculture in the Senegal River basin. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Barren

Barren

Expressions using "barren": barren conditions ♦ barren County ♦ barren cow ♦ Barren flower ♦ Barren Ground bear ♦ Barren Ground caribou ♦ Barren Grounds ♦ barren land ♦ Barren oak ♦ barren of ♦ barren Springs ♦ barren tree ♦ barren woman ♦ making barren ♦ pine barren. Additional references.

Ending with "barren": fast-becoming-barren, seemingly-barren, semi-barren.

Containing "barren": pine-barren sandwort.

Albanian

shterp (desert, dry, effete, sterile), joprodhues (non-productive, unproductive), jopjellor (infertile), i pavlerë (bad, base, catchpenny, chaffy, cheap, crummy, dud, expendable, fiddling, footling, frivolous, futile, jejune, measly, nugatory, paltry, peddling, tawdry, threepenny, trashy, vain, valueless, worthless). (various references)

Arabic 

‏فارغ (blank, empty, flatulent, hollow, idle, inane, leisure, meaningless, pointless, senseless, silly, stupid, vacuous, vain, windy), ‏محروم من (forlorn), ‏متبلد العقل (slow, slow witted), ‏مجدب (arid, desert, dry, infertile, sterile, sterilized, unfruitful, waste), ‏قاحل (arid, desert, dry, infertile, waste), ‏غير مثمر (fruitless, result badly, sterile, unfruitful, unproductive), ‏غير جذاب (unattractive), ‏عقيم (effete, fruitless, futile, ineffectual, sterile, unfruitful, unproductiveness, useless, vain, void), ‏عاقر (sterile), ‏عاطل عن (destitute). (various references)

Bulgarian 

непроизводителен, празен (airy, airy fairy, bare, blank, empty, hollow, idle, inane, light, loose, piffling, pithless, purposeless, sounding, superficial, uncharged, unsubstantial, untenanted, vacant, vacuous, vain, void, yeasty). (various references)

Chinese 

荒蕪 (uncultivated, waste), 贫瘠 (infertility), 瘠 (lean), 不毛 . (various references)

Czech

sterilní (aseptic, sterile), planý (airy fairy, empty, false, fruitless, idle, sterile, wild), neplodný (fruitless, infertile, sterile, unproductive), neúrodný (infertile, poor, sterile), jalový (frothy, fruitless, gassy, vapid). (various references)

Danish

ufrugtbar (infertile, sterile), tom (empty, void), steril (germfree, infertile, sterile), oedemark, infertil (infertile, sterile), ikke-draegtig (empty, non-pregnant), gold hoppe, gold (arid, infertile, sterile). (various references)

Dutch

bar (awfully, bar, barrier, buffet, pub, severe, strict), woest land, vruchteloos (abortive, fruitless, futile, useless, vain), steriel (infertile, sterile), schraal (coarse, gaunt, in short supply, infertile, lean, meager, rough, scanty, scarce, skimpy, skinny, slender, thin), onvruchtbaar (infertile, sterile, unfruitful), niet drachtig (empty, non-pregnant), kaal land, infertiel (infertile, sterile), infertibilis (infertile, sterile), gust (empty, non-pregnant). (various references)

Esperanto

senfrukta, nefruktodona (infertile, sterile, unfruitful), malfekunda (infertile). (various references)

Farsi 

نازا (Sterile), لم یزرع (Arid, Wasteland), تهی (Basic, Devoid, Empty, Hollow, Inane, Indigent, Jejune, Leer, Toom, Vacuous, Vain, Void), سترون (Sterile), عقیم (Abortive, Sterile), بی حاصل (Unfruitful), بی ثمر (Abortive, Gaunt, Unfruitful, Unprofitable). (various references)

Finnish

tyhjä (bare, blank, devoid of, empty, idle, vacant, vain, void), maho (draught cow, trek cow), karu (arid, bare, sterile), hedelmätön (fruitless, infertile, unfruitful), ei tiine (empty, non-pregnant), ei kantava (empty, non-pregnant). (various references)

French

stérile. (various references)

German

unfruchtbar (barrenly, fruitless, infertile, sterile, unfruitful, unproductive). (various references)

Greek 

στείρος (infertile, jejune 2, sterile), άκαρπος (abortive, fruitless), άγονος (fruitless, jejune 1, sterile). (various references)

Hebrew 

עקר (basis, crux, doctrine, dogma, essence, foundation, futile, gist, impotent, infertile, main, nub, origin, pith, principle, quintessence, root, sterile, substance, tenet), ערירי (childless, forsaken, lonely), גלמוד (desolate, forlorn, lonely, lonesome, solitary, sterile), צחיח (arid, dry, infertile, parched, torrid, waste), סרק (barrenness, emptiness, futile, ineffectual). (various references)

Hungarian

terméketlen (dry, effete, fruitless, hungry, infertile, jejune, lean, non-productive, sterile, unfruitful, unproductive), sivár (bald, bleak, desolate, dingy, drear, dreary, dusty, gaunt, humdrum, meagre, penurious, sullen), terméketlen vidék (Badlands), pusztaság (desert, desolation, heath, Heather, waste, wild, wilderness), puszta (bare, bleak, desert, mere, prairie, pure, sheer, waste), nélkülöző (wanting), meddő (abortive, dead, dry, effete, refuse, spoil, waste), kopár (bald, bare, bleak, stark, treeless), hálátlan (ingrate, irksome, meagre, thankless, ungrateful, unthankful), érdektelen (disinterested, languid, unconcerned, uninterested). (various references)

Indonesian

tandus (waste), gersang (arid, coarse, dry), cengkar (fallow). (various references)

Italian

sterile (arid, fruitless, infertile, sterile, sterilized, unfertile). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

不毛 (sour, sterile, unproductive). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ふもう (sour, sterile, unproductive). (various references)

Korean 

불모. (various references)

Manx

shast (sterile, unfruitful, unfruitful as animal), neuvessoil (infecund, infertile, jejune, unfruitful), gennish. (various references)

Norwegian

ufruktbar (infertile), gold. (various references)

Pig Latin

arrenbay.(various references)

Portuguese

estéril (abortive, close-fisted, effete, fruitless, futile, jejune, lean, penurious, poor, sterile, ungrateful, unproductive, useless, vain). (various references)

Romanian

uscat (adust, arenaceous, arid, continent, crusty, dry, earth, fleshless, hungry, husky, land, main, mainland, meager, meagre, parched, sear, sere, shore, shrunken, slack, stale, thirsty, well-seasoned, wizened), sterp (arenaceous, arid, bare, dead, desolate, hungry, infructuous, jejune, lean, sterile), steril (addle, arid, fruitless, futile, infructuous, sterile, unfruitful, useless, vain), sec (bald, cold, dried up, drily, dry, dull, empty, glacial, harshly, hollow, literal, stupid, useless), sãrac (beggarly, destitute, empty, hard up, impecunious, in straitened circumstances, lean, low-lived, meager, meagre, mean, needful, needy, pauper, peeled, penniless, penurious, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, poor, poor man, poverty stricken, scanty, small, sterile, stingy, void), sãrãcãcios (baldly, barely, humble, mean, meanly, miserable, modest, penurious, poky, poor, poorly, poverty stricken, scant, shabby, slender, sorry, sparing), pleşuv (bald, bald-headed, bare, hairless, smooth), pãmânt sterp (sterile land), neroditor (fruitless, infructuous, jejune, lean), golaş (callow, featherless, fledgeless, hairless, naked, squab), gol (abyss, bald, bare, bare-bodied, blank, blankness, desert, deserted, empty, gap, genuine, hollow, hollowness, inanity, leafless, naked, nakedly, nude, out at, shallow, stripped, uncovered, vacancy, vacuum, void, waste, windy), arid (arid, dead, sterile, unproductive). (various references)

Russian 

бесплодный (abortive, arid, effete, fruitless, ineffectual, infertile, jejune, otiose, sterile, unavailing, vain). (various references)

Scottish

tioram (dry, uninteresting), seasg (dry, farrow, not giving milk, unprolific), dìosg, aimrid. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

oskudan (deficient, destitute, exiguous, meager, meagre, necessitous, needy, penurious, poor, scant, scanty, scarce, short, shy, skimpy, spare, sparing, stingy, stringent, tight), nerodan, neplodan (infertile, poor, sterile, unfruitful), jalov (aborted, fallow, infertile, sterile, unfruitful). (various references)

Spanish

árido (arid, dreary, dry, jejune, unfruitful), estéril (effete, futile, hungry, infertile, sapless, sterile, unfruitful, unproductive, vain). (various references)

Swedish

steril (infertile, sterile), ofruktbar (arid, infertile, jejune, otiose, unfertile, unfruitful, unproductive, unprofitable), karg jord. (various references)

Turkish

budala (chucklehead, chumpish, clod, clownish, doltish, dreary, dullish, fool, jackass, juggins, noddy, noodle, prune, sappy, simple simon, soft, twit, zany), boş (airy, blank, bootless, captious, chimerical, desert, disengaged, empty, expressionless, fallacious, flat, for hire, free, frivolous, frothy, futile, gaseous, hollow, idle, inane, ineffective, ineffectual, invalid, leisure, meaningless, nugatory, null, pointless, puerile, punk, purposeless, spare, tenantless, thin, trumpery, unbuilt, unbuilt-on, unengaged, unfounded, unoccupied, unprofitable, unrecorded, unwritten-on, vacant, vacuous, vain, void, waste, windy, wishywashy, without any foundation, without foundation, yeasty), verimsiz (abortive, emaciated, fruitless, idle, ineffectual, inefficacious, inefficient, infertile, jejune, lean, poor, sterile, thin, unfruitful, unproductive, unprofitable, unthrifty), sonuçsuz (fruitless, inconclusive, ineffective, sterile, to no avail), kısır (abortive, effete, fruitless, infertile, sterile, unfruitful), kıraç (emaciated, gaunt, infertile), faydasız (bootless, fruitless, ineffectual, inefficacious, it's no go, it's no use, no good, nugatory, profitless, unavailing, unobliging, unprofitable, unusable, useless, vain, void), anlamsız (absurd, blank, dead pan, empty, expressionless, for the birds, frivolous, grotesque, inane, incoherent, inept, inexpressive, insane, insignificant, meaningless, nonsense, nonsensical, of no significance, pointless, purposeless, ridiculous, senseless, sodden, unmeaning, unreasonable, vacuous, vain, yeasty), çorak (arid, desert, gaunt, infertile, jejune, poor, waterless). (various references)

Turkmen 

gysyr. (various references)

Ukrainian

стерильний (aseptic), яловий, виснажений (all in, atrophic, atrophous, attenuate, attenuated, beat, bedrid, cachectic, crocked, effete, emaciate, emaciated, exhausted, hidebound, impoverished, jaded, outspent, outworn, overcome, overdriven, overworn, perished, played out, sapless, spent, wan, washed out, washed up, weariful, whipped-up, worn, worn out), нудний (arid, dead alive, depressing, heartbreaking, humdrum, insipid, irksome, long winded, matter of fact, monotonous, prolix, prosaic, prosy, repetitious, soggy, stodgy, stuffy, stupid, tedious, weariful, wearying, workaday), неродючий (fruitless, hidebound, infertile, jejune, nonbearing, out of heart), непродуктивний (non-productive, unproductive, waste), бідний (bare, destitute, fortuneless, lean, necessitous, needful, needy, one horse, pauper, penurious, poor, scrannel, shabby, tenuous, underprivileged), беззмістовний (bald, blank, empty, inane, insignificant, matterless, sapless, vapid), безплідний (abortive, arid, effete, heartless, hungry, nonbearing, otiose, sterile), байдужий (apathetic, apathetical, chill, cold, cold blooded, cold-hearted, cold-livered, disinterested, frigid, half hearted, impassible, indifferent, insensible, insentient, neutral, nonchalant, passionless, unaffected, unconcerned, uninterested, unmoved), пустка, пустир, пустий (addle, airy, bald, bare, baseless, begging, chaffy, empty, frothy, otiose, sounding, vacant, vacuous, vain, void, yeasty). (various references)

Vietnamese 

dải đất cằn cỗi, cánh đồng hoang. (various references)

Welsh

hysb (dry), diffrwyth (numb, paralyzed), anghyfeb, anffrwythlon (unfruitful), amhlantadwy (childless). (various references)

sterilis. (various references)

baraigne. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "barren": barrener, barrenest, barrenly, barrenness, barrennesses, barrens. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Barren" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Abrdn, Baeren, Bardeen, baren, barene, Barent, bareon, barep, Barere, barien, barient, barin, barlen, barne, barner, barra, Barran, Barrani, Barrau, Barreh, Barrena, Barret, Barrex, Barrey, barrien, barrin, barrion, Barzen, batrun, beren, Beuren, Birren, Bjarne, boeren, Borrani, Braben, bragen, Brauron, burran, burren, Farrenc, garren, Jahren, marren. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: barer, barre, rebar, reran.

-2 letters: bane, bare, barn, bean, bear, brae, bran, bren, earn, nabe, near, rare, rear.

-3 letters: ane, arb, are, ban, bar, ben, bra, brr, ear, era, ern, err, nab, nae, neb, ran, reb.

-4 letters: ab, ae, an, ar, ba, be, en, er, na, ne, re.

+1 letter: barnier, barrens, brander, branner, urbaner.

+2 letters: aberrant, airborne, banterer, barrener, barrenly, brainier, branders, branners, brannier, brawnier, rebranch, unbarred.

+3 letters: aberrance, aberrancy, aberrants, abhorrent, bairnlier, baneberry, banterers, barbering, bargainer, barreling, barrenest, bartender, bartering, branchier, carabiner, cornbread, cranberry, debarring, earthborn, embarring, firebrand, forebrain, harbinger, heartburn, karabiner, riverbank.

+4 letters: aberrances, aberrantly, aberration, abhorrence, bankroller, bargainers, barleycorn, barrelling, barrenness, bartenders, borderland, brainpower, breakfront, bushranger, carabineer, carabinero, carabiners, carabinier, chinaberry, cornbreads, cornerback, firebrands, forbearing, forebrains, harbingers, heartburns, hibernator, interurban, karabiners, linerboard, loganberry, marrowbone, pawnbroker, prebendary, reboarding, rebranched, rebranches, renderable, reprobance, returnable, ringbarked, riverbanks, rowanberry, submariner, transcribe, unbarbered, waterborne.