barren

English

Etymology

From Middle English bareyne, from Anglo-Norman baraigne, baraing (“sterile; barren”), of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *baʀ (“bare; barren”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare”). If so, a doublet of bare.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɹən
• Homophone: baron

Adjective

barren (comparative barrener or more barren, superlative barrenest or most barren)

1. (of people and animals, not comparable) Not bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile.

   I silently wept as my daughter's husband rejected her. What would she do now that she was no longer a maiden but also barren?

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
     To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,
     The barren, touched in this holy chase,
     Shake off their sterile curse.

   • 2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, p. 7]”, in The New York Times‎:

     The druids […] believed that mistletoe could make barren animals fecund, and that it was an antidote to all poisons.

2. (of plants, not comparable) Not bearing seed or fruit.
3. (of places) Of poor fertility, infertile; not producing vegetation; desert, waste.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     barren mountain tracts

   • 2009, Y.J. Zhu, “Taklamakan Desert Moon Ride”, in Lucy McCauley, editor, The Best Women's Travel Writing 2009: True Stories from Around the World (Travelers' Tales)‎, →ISBN, →ISSN, →OCLC, →OL, page 154:

     We have descended Tian Shan and entered the Taklamakan Desert, a barren landscape painted in ecru—no shrubs, no grass, only waves upon waves of naked ridges the color of buff, the highest few spotted with white specks of snow.

   • 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Technology: Terraforming Codex entry:

     Terraforming even a barren planet often involves significant financial and ethical hurdles.

4. (with of) Devoid, lacking.
   • August 28, 1731, Jonathan Swift, letter to John Gay

     But schemes are perfectly accidental. Some will appear barren of hints and matter, but prove to be fruitful.

5. Devoid of interest or attraction, poor, bleak.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Epilogue Chapter IV”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, section 2:

     As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.

6. Unproductive, fruitless, unprofitable; empty, hollow, vain.
   • 1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, , →OCLC:

     brilliant but barren reveries

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XXI, page 35:

     A third is wroth: ‘Is this an hour
     ⁠For private sorrow’s barren song,
     ⁠When more and more the people throng
     The chairs and thrones of civil power?’

   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 270:

     When the entire coast-line becomes a sea of waving palms, with Chinese and Malay villages fringing the shores, which are at present mere barren wastes of mangroves, with plantations of pepper, of gambier, and of tapioca and rice, the Northern Territory, backed up by the unswerving energy of the Australian squatter, miner, and planter, will present a spectacle almost unknown in the scheme of British colonization.

   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC:

     Rooney had been suffered a barren spell for England with only one goal in 15 games but he was in no mood to ignore the gifts on offer in front of an increasingly subdued Bulgarian support.

   • 2024 March 20, Ben Jones, “Suppliers' uncertain wait for new trains”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 36:

     As the glut of new orders placed in the optimistic pre-pandemic years (worth billions of pounds) reaches its conclusion, production lines in Newton Aycliffe, Derby and Newport face a potentially barren future - as well as job losses that will be devastating for their communities and supply chains.

7. Mentally dull or unproductive; stupid or intellectually fallow.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too.

Synonyms

• sterile
• fruitless

Antonyms

• fertile
• fruitful

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

barren (plural barrens)

1. An area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place.
   • 1990, Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion, 1st edition, New York: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 165:

     Sol squinted out over the barrens to where the mountains shimmered in the heat haze.

2. (usually in the plural) In particular, an elevated flat expanse of land that only supports the growth of small trees and shrubs.

   The pine barrens are a site lonely enough to suit any hermit.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Barner

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baren/
• Rhymes: -aren
• Hyphenation: ba‧rren

Etymology 1

Adjective

barren (comparative barrenago, superlative barrenen, excessive barrenegi)

1. deep

Declension

Noun

barren inan

1. interior
2. guts, stomach
3. (figurative) soul, spirit

Declension

Etymology 2

Particle

barren

1. A particle used to give certainty or emphasis.

   Jada dakit barren! ― I already know that!

Further reading

• "barren" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
• “barren” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus

Catalan

Verb

barren

1. third-person plural present indicative of barrar

Middle English

Adjective

barren

1. Alternative form of bareyne

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

barren m

1. definite singular of barre

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

barren m

1. definite singular of barre

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaren/
• Rhymes: -aren
• Syllabification: ba‧rren

Verb

barren

1. inflection of barrar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative
2. third-person plural present indicative of barrer

Swedish

Noun

barren

1. definite singular of barr c (“parallel bars”)
2. definite plural of barr n (“needle”)