Word forms: comparative balder, superlative baldest
1. adjective
Someone who is bald has little or no hair on the top of their head.
The man's bald head was beaded with sweat.
She is going bald.
Synonyms: hairless, smooth, bare, shorn More Synonyms of bald
baldnessuncountable noun
He wears a cap to cover a spot of baldness.
Synonyms: plainness, simplicity, austerity, severity More Synonyms of bald
Synonyms: barrenness, nakedness, bleakness, starkness More Synonyms of bald
Synonyms: hairlessness, alopecia [pathology], baldheadedness, baldpatedness More Synonyms of bald
2. adjective
If a tyre is bald, its surface has worn down and it is no longer safe to use.
3. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
A bald statement is in plain language and contains no extra explanation or information.
The announcement came in a bald statement from the official news agency.
The bald truth is he's just not happy.
Synonyms: plain, direct, simple, straight More Synonyms of bald
baldlyadverb [ADVERB with verb]
'The leaders are outdated,' he stated baldly. 'They don't relate to young people.'
More Synonyms of bald
bald in British English
(bɔːld)
adjective
1.
having no hair or fur, esp having no hair on all or most of the scalp
2.
lacking natural growth or covering
3.
plain or blunt
a bald statement
4.
bare or simple; unadorned
5. Also: baldfaced
(of certain birds and other animals) having white markings on the head and face
6.
(of a tyre) having a worn tread
Derived forms
baldish (ˈbaldish)
adjective
baldly (ˈbaldly)
adverb
baldness (ˈbaldness)
noun
Word origin
C14 ballede (literally: having a white spot); related to Danish bǣldet, Greek phalaros having a white spot
bald in American English
(bɔld)
adjective
1.
having white fur or feathers on the head, as some animals and birds
2.
having no hair on all or part of the scalp
3.
not covered by natural growth
bald hills
4.
having the tread nearly or completely worn off
a bald tire
5.
bare; plain; unadorned
the bald facts
6.
frank and blunt
a bald statement
SIMILAR WORDS: bare
Derived forms
baldly (ˈbaldly)
adverb
baldness (ˈbaldness)
noun
Word origin
ME balled, assoc. with bal, ball1, but prob. ult. < IE base *bhel-, gleaming, white > Gr phalos, white, phalakros, bald, OPrus ballo, forehead
Examples of 'bald' in a sentence
bald
Wonder if he knows about that bald patch?
The Sun (2016)
Finish it and you have a profile of a bald man with sharp features smiling a tight little smile.
Smithsonian Mag (2017)
Within three months I had eight bald patches.
The Sun (2017)
All it needs is a little bald bloke.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The skin underneath the bald patch looks completely normal.
The Sun (2010)
The bald spot was no longer visible.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Or does that foam you spray on your bald head make you high?
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
One man had gone bald over business pressures.
Steel, Elizabeth Coping With Sudden Hair Loss (1988)
That would give you a bald patch.
Max Arthur Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 19011910 in the words of the Men & Women Who WereThere (2006)
Perhaps the bald spot and greying stubble gave it away.
The Sun (2011)
It has not been very successful on totally bald heads.
Steel, Elizabeth Coping With Sudden Hair Loss (1988)
After watching paint dry and grass grow comes watching a bald man do maths.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Inevitably some claim to have spotted a growing bald spot.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
He mopped his forehead and his bald spot and breathed hard.
Frances Hodgson Burnett Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886)
He shrugs and bobs his bald head this way and that.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Doctors remove follicles from a hairy part of the body and graft them on to the bald spots.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Complete recovery may occur and the prognosis is much better if the bald patches are confined to a smaller area.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The bald man used the phone.
Pressley, Michael & McCormick, Christine Advanced Educational Psychology For Educators, Researchers and Policymakers, (1995)
The Albanian youngster was referred for help after complaining that his bald patch was ruining his life.
The Sun (2011)
But you still feel like a man, an ugly bald man.
Steel, Elizabeth Coping With Sudden Hair Loss (1988)
He said: 'I might get a little bald cat next time.
The Sun (2012)
Or, as seems more likely, a mysterious white cat stroking a bald man.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The little chap is bald and arrived after a prolonged spell of blood, toil, sweat and tears.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The only real difference is that I'm a little more bald and slightly fatter.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
In other languages
bald
British English: bald /bɔːld/ ADJECTIVE
Someone who is bald has little or no hair on the top of their head.
He rubbed his hand across his bald head.
American English: bald
Arabic: أَصْلَع
Brazilian Portuguese: careca
Chinese: 光秃的
Croatian: ćelav
Czech: plešatý
Danish: skaldet
Dutch: kaal
European Spanish: calvo
Finnish: kalju
French: chauve
German: kahl
Greek: φαλακρός
Italian: calvo
Japanese: 頭のはげた
Korean: 대머리의
Norwegian: skallet
Polish: łysy
European Portuguese: careca
Romanian: chel
Russian: лысый
Latin American Spanish: calvo
Swedish: flintskallig
Thai: ล้าน
Turkish: kel
Ukrainian: лисий
Vietnamese: hói đầu
All related terms of 'bald'
bald fact
Facts are pieces of information that can be discovered .
bald spot
You can refer to a particular place as a spot .
bald eagle
A bald eagle is a large eagle with a white head that lives in North America. It is the national bird of the United States of America.
bald patch
A patch on a surface is a part of it which is different in appearance from the area around it.
bald cypress
a North American deciduous coniferous tree, Taxodium distichum, that grows in swamps and sends up aerial roots from its base
baldcypress
any of a genus ( Taxodium , esp. T . distichum ) of cone-bearing trees of the baldcypress family, that grows in the swamps of the SE U.S. and normally sheds its small, pointed needles in the fall
swamp cypress
a North American deciduous coniferous tree, Taxodium distichum, that grows in swamps and sends up aerial roots from its base
Chinese translation of 'bald'
bald
(bɔːld)
adj
[head, person]秃(禿)的 (tū de)
[tyre]严(嚴)重磨损(損)的 (yánzhòng mósǔn de)
[statement]直截了当(當)的 (zhíjié-liǎodàng de)
to go bald变(變)秃(禿) (biàntū)
1 (adjective)
Definition
having no hair or fur, esp. of a man having no hair on the scalp
The man's bald head was beaded with sweat.
Synonyms
hairless
a smooth and hairless body
smooth
His baby-smooth skin might never have felt a razor.
bare
shorn
clean-shaven
tonsured
depilated
glabrous (biology)
baldheaded
baldpated
2 (adjective)
Definition
plain or blunt
The bald truth is that he's just not happy.
Synonyms
plain
his reputation for plain speaking
direct
She avoided giving a direct answer.
simple
The simple truth is that experts haven't a clue.
straight
a straight answer to a straight question
frank
They had a frank discussion about the issue.
severe
wearing her felt hats and severe grey suits
bare
bare wooden floors
straightforward
I was impressed by his straightforward intelligent manner.
blunt
She is blunt about her personal life.
rude
outright
He told me an outright lie.
downright
a simple, downright chap with no rhetorical airs about him
forthright
She was known for her forthright manner.
unadorned
The room is typically simple and unadorned.
unvarnished
The full unvarnished truth about the Duke should be made public.
straight from the shoulder
I want you to give me the truth, straight from the shoulder.
3 (adjective)
Definition
lacking natural covering
Synonyms
barren
exposed
Skin cancer is most likely to occur on exposed parts of the body.
naked
They stripped him naked.
I was lying naked on a sheet of black plastic.
uncovered
stark
a stark landscape of concrete, wire and utility equipment
bleak
The island's pretty bleak.
treeless
Additional synonyms
in the sense of bare
Definition
without the natural, conventional, or usual covering
bare wooden floors
Synonyms
simple,
basic,
stripped,
severe,
plain,
spare,
stark,
austere,
spartan,
unadorned,
unfussy,
unvarnished,
unembellished,
unornamented,
unpatterned,
bare-bones
in the sense of bleak
Definition
exposed and barren
The island's pretty bleak.
Synonyms
exposed,
open,
empty,
raw,
bare,
stark,
barren,
desolate,
gaunt,
windswept,
weather-beaten,
unsheltered
in the sense of blunt
Definition
(of people, manner of speaking, etc.) straightforward and uncomplicated