Phrase guide

bare infinitive

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The infinitive form of an English verb without the particle to; a comparable infinitive in other Germanic languages, e.g. a German infinitive without a preceding "zu", or a Swedish one without a preceding "att".

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: infinitif nu — uninflected Germanic verb form without 'to'
  • French: infinitif zéro — uninflected Germanic verb form without 'to'
  • German: reiner Infinitiv — uninflected Germanic verb form without 'to'
  • Hungarian: pőreigenév — uninflected Germanic verb form without 'to'
  • Swedish: ren infinitiv — uninflected Germanic verb form without 'to'