bare
1 of 3adjective
bare
2 of 3verb
transitive verb
bare
3 of 3archaic past tense of bear
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Usage Note on Bear
There is considerable confusion between the verbs bear and bare. It may help to remember that the verb bare has only one meaning: "to uncover," as in "bare your shoulders" and "a dog baring its teeth." All other uses of the verb are for bear: "bearing children," "the right to bear arms," "bearing up under the stress/weight," "can't bear the thought," "bear south," "it bears repeating."
There is occasional confusion between bear and bare in adjectival uses (as in "he rubbed his bear arms"), but bear is properly a noun and only used like an adjective in the financial phrase bear market. All other uses refer to the state of being uncovered or naked and should therefore be bare: "bare necessities," "bare essentials," "bare arms," "bare bones," "bare-knuckle," and so on.
Did you know?
Usage Note on Bear
There is considerable confusion between the verbs bear and bare. It may help to remember that the verb bare has only one meaning: "to uncover," as in "bare your shoulders" and "a dog baring its teeth." All other uses of the verb are for bear: "bearing children," "the right to bear arms," "bearing up under the stress/weight," "can't bear the thought," "bear south," "it bears repeating."
There is occasional confusion between bear and bare in adjectival uses (as in "he rubbed his bear arms"), but bear is properly a noun and only used like an adjective in the financial phrase bear market. All other uses refer to the state of being uncovered or naked and should therefore be bare: "bare necessities," "bare essentials," "bare arms," "bare bones," "bare-knuckle," and so on.
Synonyms
Adjective
- mere
- very
Verb
- disclose
- discover
- divulge
- expose
- let on (about)
- reveal
- spill
- tell
- unbosom
- uncloak
- uncover
- unmask
- unveil
Example Sentences
David McAninch, Saveur, November 2008 The dining room is warm and comfortable in a quasi-Tuscan-villa style, with bare wood floors, mottled walls, … and a glass room divider etched with images of grapes. Colman Andrews, Gourmet, March 2007 A scant two hours after his Derby victory, Monarchos was back in his … stall, beneath a bare bulb, eating carrots from a red bucket. Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated, 14 May 2001 There was a rug in the front room of the house, but the other floors were bare. Do not let the bare wires touch. He covered her bare arms with his coat. He had a glove on his left hand, but his right hand was bare. The ground was bare where the statue had stood for years. There was only one bare shelf. Her office was pretty bare, having only one desk and one chair. This is the barest room in the house. He only told me the bare facts about what happened. Verb Ed McMahon calls upon the canine coach to help him settle down his aggressive … terrier, which is nice to Ed but bares its teeth at guests. TV Guide, 29 Oct.-4 Nov. 2007 You could argue that the very act of conducting a lengthy poll by telephone skews the response pool. What sort of person bares her soul to pollsters for upward of an hour—and during the holiday season yet? Katha Pollitt, Nation, 4/11 Aug. 2003 When Eastman called Death in the Afternoon (Hemingway's nonfiction book about bullfighting) "a literary style of wearing false hair on the chest," Hemingway had no other options than to bare his hirsute midsection and duke it out with his rival author in front of their editor, Max Perkins. The common mythology is that Hemingway beat Eastman to a bloody pulp, but Perkins' account had Eastman gaining the upper hand. Will Manley, Booklist, 1 Apr. 2001 The better analogy is to bare all on the talk shows in which ordinary people are encouraged to reveal intimate aspects of their private lives. Richard A. Posner, New Republic, 21 Aug. 2000 He bared his chest to show the scar. finally bared the secret that she had kept to herself for so long See More Essence, 29 Aug. 2022 What some quiet quitters call doing the bare minimum actually means giving full-attention to their work, then having a life outside work hours, says Brian Gray, who works in web development. Kathryn Dill And Angela Yang, WSJ, 25 Aug. 2022 By the standards of the NFL trade market, Indianapolis gave up the bare minimum in order to get Pryor. The Indianapolis Star, 22 Aug. 2022 The bare minimum here is 64 GB, but 128 or higher is even better. Riley Gutiérrez Mcdermid, USA TODAY, 21 Aug. 2022 The pandemic laid bare the gaps and disparities in the U.S. public health system, and often resulted in blowback against local officials trying to slow the coronavirus's spread. Katheryn Houghton, CNN, 15 Aug. 2022 And, like the Dreametech (in our roundup as well), the M7 wipes rather than actively mops bare floors. Stewart Wolpin, Popular Mechanics, 12 Aug. 2022 There is one TikTok from the brand Morphit Sea Moss that shows a chiseled man with brown skin and curly hair eating a coconut with his bare hands. Julissa Jamesstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 5 Aug. 2022 The assailant reportedly used Ogorchukwu’s own crutch to strike him first, then crushed him with his bare hands until Ogorchukwu suffocated. Paolo Maurizio Talanti, Vogue, 4 Aug. 2022 K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 16 July 2022 Throughout the United States, the fight for gender equality in laws that allow men, but not women, to bare their chests in public has been raging for decades. Kim Elsesser, Forbes, 5 May 2022 Just want to leave this here for the ignorant and arrogant people who have chosen to remain uneducated about what this means for we women who bare this burden. Charmaine Patterson, PEOPLE.com, 27 June 2022 And their journey to find that special someone lays bare their backgrounds, beliefs and preferences. Washington Post Staff, Washington Post, 21 July 2022 Viewers are met with an intimate gaze by the subjects, who bare their soul for my camera. Rica Cerbarano, Vogue, 11 July 2022 The pop icon has been known to bare it all on Instagram in the name of body positivity. Seventeen Editors, Seventeen, 7 June 2022 The movie lays bare a grudge that has become its own self-sustaining engine, unmoored from logic or reason. Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 May 2022 Some took up a pen to bare their hearts for those who were to come. Devi Shastri, Journal Sentinel, 21 June 2022 See More Word History
Adjective and Verb
Middle English, from Old English bær; akin to Old High German bar naked, Lithuanian basas barefoot
Adjective
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Verb
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing bare
Kids Definition
bare 1 of 2
adjective
Jack London, The Call of the Wildbare
2 of 2verb
bare 1 of 2
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- mere
- very
- sheer
- simple
- only
- stark
- pure
- utter
- unadulterated
- solitary
- unmitigated
- total
- alone
- sole
- lone
- absolute
- outright
- unalloyed
- unqualified
- arrant
- singular
- out-and-out
- solo
- all-out
- unique
Synonyms & Similar Words
- simple
- plain
- naked
- stripped
- unadorned
- bald
- clean
- undecorated
- unornamented
- unembellished
- unvarnished
- denuded
- restrained
- quiet
- honest
- spartan
- homely
- plain-vanilla
- elemental
- modest
- divested
- unsophisticated
- stark
- bleak
- earthy
- subdued
- natural
- minimalist
- unpretentious
- severe
- inconspicuous
- forthright
- austere
- muted
- conservative
- antiseptic
- unobtrusive
- au naturel
- understated
- sober
- toned (down)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- fancy
- adorned
- decorated
- ornamented
- gaudy
- tawdry
- glittery
- showy
- garish
- embellished
- loud
- swanky
- glitzy
- flashy
- ornate
- swank
- lurid
- ostentatious
- flamboyant
- florid
- elaborate
- exaggerated
- trimmed
- bedizened
- overwrought
- ornate
- splashy
- overdecorated
- extravagant
- rococo
- baroque
- dressed
- overdone
- embroidered
- arrayed
- bedecked
- garnished
- apparelled
- appareled
- decked-out
Synonyms & Similar Words
- exposed
- naked
- stripped
- uncovered
- peeled
- open
- denuded
- bald
- unprotected
- shaven
- displayed
- skinned
- revealed
- hairless
- undressed
- unclad
- unclothed
- disrobed
- divested
- furless
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- covered
- mantled
- overgrown
- hairy
- bearded
- overrun
- overspread
Synonyms & Similar Words
- naked
- stripped
- nude
- unclad
- undressed
- unclothed
- disrobed
- stark naked
- raw
- bottomless
- starkers
- au naturel
- peeled
- denuded
- topless
- mother-naked
- in the raw
- in the nude
- seminude
- in the buff
- in the altogether
- unveiled
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- covered
- clad
- clothed
- suited
- dressed
- robed
- invested
- veiled
- garbed
- attired
- apparelled
- arrayed
- vested
- appareled
- decent
- rigged (out)
- caparisoned
- decked (out)
- tricked (out)
Synonyms & Similar Words
- devoid
- empty
- barren
- clean
- stark
- blank
- vacant
- emptied
- hollow
- void
- drained
- deserted
- toom
- vacuous
- open
- clear
- dry
- uninhabited
- unoccupied
- available
- abandoned
- forsaken
- unfilled
- free
- depleted
- unattended
- unfurnished
- exhausted
- vacated
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- full
- complete
- occupied
- provided
- replete
- furnished
- filled
- supplied
- packed
- flush
- overflowing
- teeming
Synonyms & Similar Words
- devoid
- barren
- void
- empty
- destitute
- bereft
- bankrupt
- insufficient
- blank
- stark
- wanting
- partial
- vacant
- absent
- incomplete
- short
- fragmentary
- fragmental
- missing
- innocent
- deficient
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- full
- filled
- replete
- flush
- fraught
- provided
- furnished
- rife
- supplied
- crowded
- bursting
- saturated
- fat
- bulging
- crammed
- brimming
- stuffed
- thick
- packed
- loaded
- jammed
- chockful
- teeming
- swarming
- abounding
- chock-full
- jam-packed
- thronging
bare
2 of 2verb
Synonyms & Similar Words
- reveal
- disclose
- discover
- expose
- tell
- uncover
- share
- divulge
- spill
- announce
- unveil
- unbosom
- unmask
- own
- bring to light
- leak
- confide
- let the cat out of the bag (about)
- let on (about)
- uncloak
- spill the beans (about)
- publish
- unclothe
- post
- advertise
- betray
- confess
- unearth
- proclaim
- go public (with)
- bring out
- acknowledge
- inform
- placard
- declare
- impart
- show up
- give away
- broadcast
- sound
- smoke out
- undrape
- promulgate
- concede
- admit
- debunk
- relate
- avow
- disinter
- communicate
- publicize
- rake up
- blab
- blaze
- talk
- squeal
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- hide
- conceal
- veil
- cloak
- mask
- cover (up)
- shroud
- camouflage
- disguise
- enshroud
- varnish
- obscure
- gild
- shade
- whitewash
- gloss (over)
- overshadow
- darken
- cloud
- overcast
- becloud
- eclipse
- bedim
- befog
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of bare are bald, barren, naked, and nude. While all these words mean "deprived of naturally or conventionally appropriate covering," bare implies the removal of what is additional, superfluous, ornamental, or dispensable.
The synonyms bald and bare are sometimes interchangeable, but bald implies actual or seeming absence of natural covering and may suggest a conspicuous bareness.
The words barren and bare can be used in similar contexts, but barren often suggests aridity or impoverishment or sterility.
While in some cases nearly identical to bare, naked suggests absence of protective or ornamental covering but may imply a state of nature, of destitution, or of defenselessness.
While the synonyms nude and bare are close in meaning, nude applies especially to the unclothed human figure.