adj · noun · 13 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.
US:Mary-marry-merryRecorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
New-Zealand:/ˈbɛɹən/
rhymes with -æɹən
homophone: baron
CMU ARPABET:B AE1 R AH0 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
CMU ARPABET 2:B EH1 R AH0 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Not bearing children, childless; hence also unable to bear children, sterile.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Examples
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?
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
Not bearing seed or fruit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
adj
Meaning 3
Of poor fertility, infertile; not producing vegetation; desert, waste.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
adj
Meaning 4
Devoid, lacking.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: with-of
Examples
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.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: destitute, bereft
Antonyms: none provided
5
adj
Meaning 5
Devoid of interest or attraction, poor, bleak.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: idle
Antonyms: none provided
7
adj
Meaning 7
Mentally dull or unproductive; stupid or intellectually fallow.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
An area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
9
noun
Meaning 9
In particular, a usually elevated and flat expanse of land that only supports the growth of small trees and shrubs, and sometimes mosses or heathers, berries, and other marshy or moory vegetation, but little agriculture and few people.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: plural-normally
Examples
The pine barrens are a site lonely enough to suit any hermit.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
10
adjective satellite
Meaning 10
completely wanting or lacking
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
writing barren of insight
young recruits destitute of experience
innocent of literary merit
the sentence was devoid of meaning
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: destitute, devoid, free, innocent
Antonyms: none provided
11
adjective satellite
Meaning 11
not bearing offspring
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
a barren woman
learned early in his marriage that he was sterile
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
12
adjective satellite
Meaning 12
providing no shelter or sustenance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
bare rocky hills
barren lands
the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes
the desolate surface of the moon
a stark landscape
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bare, bleak, desolate, stark
Antonyms: none provided
13
noun
Meaning 13
an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
the barrens of central Africa
the trackless wastes of the desert
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: waste, wasteland
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: wilderness, wild
Narrower terms: heath, heathland
History
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 cognate of English bare.
Across languages
Translations
185 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
shterp
— unable to bear children; sterile
Armenian:
ամուլ
(amul)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Armenian:
չբեր
(čʻber)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Azerbaijani:
sonsuz
— unable to bear children; sterile
Azerbaijani:
qısır
— unable to bear children; sterile
Basque:
antzu
— unable to bear children; sterile
Basque:
agor
— unable to bear children; sterile
Belarusian:
няпло́дны
(njaplódny)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Belarusian:
я́лавы
(jálavy)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Bulgarian:
безплоден
(bezploden)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Bulgarian:
ялов
(jalov)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Czech:
neplodný
— unable to bear children; sterile
Dutch:
onvruchtbaar
— unable to bear children; sterile
Dutch:
steriel
— unable to bear children; sterile
Esperanto:
malfekunda
— unable to bear children; sterile
Estonian:
aher
— unable to bear children; sterile
Finnish:
hedelmätön
— unable to bear children; sterile
Finnish:
steriili
— unable to bear children; sterile
Finnish:
maho
— unable to bear children; sterile
French:
stérile
— unable to bear children; sterile
German:
steril
— unable to bear children; sterile
German:
unfruchtbar
— unable to bear children; sterile
Greek:
στέρφος
(stérfos)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Greek:
άκαρπος
(ákarpos)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Greek:
στείρος
(steíros)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Ancient Greek:
στεῖρος
(steîros)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Hindi:
बाँझ
(bāñjh)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Hungarian:
meddő
— unable to bear children; sterile
Interlingua:
sterile
— unable to bear children; sterile
Irish:
seasc
— unable to bear children; sterile
Italian:
sterile
— unable to bear children; sterile
Italian:
infertile
— unable to bear children; sterile
Japanese:
不妊の
(funin no)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Central Kurdish:
بێبەر
(bêber)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Latin:
sterilis
— unable to bear children; sterile
Macedonian:
неплоден
(neploden)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Macedonian:
јалов
(jalov)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Malay:
mandul
— unable to bear children; sterile
Māori:
pākoko
— unable to bear children; sterile
Māori:
pukupā
— unable to bear children; sterile
Māori:
wharepā
— unable to bear children; sterile
Māori:
matapā
— unable to bear children; sterile
Middle English:
bareyne
— unable to bear children; sterile
Nahuatl:
tetzacatl
— unable to bear children; sterile
Persian:
بیبر
(bībar)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Persian:
سترون
(setarvan)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Plautdietsch:
fooss
— unable to bear children; sterile
Polish:
bezpłodny
— unable to bear children; sterile
Polish:
niepłodny
— unable to bear children; sterile
Portuguese:
estéril
— unable to bear children; sterile
Portuguese:
infértil
— unable to bear children; sterile
Romanian:
nefertil
— unable to bear children; sterile
Romanian:
sterilă
— unable to bear children; sterile
Romanian:
sterp
— unable to bear children; sterile
Russian:
беспло́дный
(besplódnyj)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Russian:
я́ловый
(jálovyj)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Scots:
eild
— unable to bear children; sterile
Scottish Gaelic:
aimrid
— unable to bear children; sterile
Scottish Gaelic:
fàsaichte
— unable to bear children; sterile
Scottish Gaelic:
seasg
— unable to bear children; sterile
Serbo-Croatian:
ја̏лов
— unable to bear children; sterile
Serbo-Croatian:
jȁlov
— unable to bear children; sterile
Slovak:
neplodný
— unable to bear children; sterile
Slovene:
jalov
— unable to bear children; sterile
Spanish:
estéril
— unable to bear children; sterile
Spanish:
infértil
— unable to bear children; sterile
Spanish:
infecundo
— unable to bear children; sterile
Tagalog:
kumil
— unable to bear children; sterile
Thai:
เป็นหมัน
— unable to bear children; sterile
Ottoman Turkish:
قیصیر
(kısır)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Ukrainian:
безплі́дний
(bezplídnyj)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Ukrainian:
неплі́дний
(neplídnyj)
— unable to bear children; sterile
Ukrainian:
я́ловий
(jálovyj)
— unable to bear children; sterile
