barren

Meanings

Adjective

• Unable to bear children; sterile.
• Of poor fertility, infertile; not producing vegetation.
• Bleak.
• Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.
• Mentally dull; stupid.

Noun

• An area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place.

Related

Similar words

• sterile

Opposite words

• fertile
• fruitful

Origin

• From Middle English barein, barain, from Old French baraigne, baraing, of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *bar ("bare; barren"), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz ("bare"). More at bare.