Search Result for "barren": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation;
- Example: "the barrens of central Africa"
- Example: "the trackless wastes of the desert"
[syn: barren, waste, wasteland]


ADJECTIVE (3)

1. providing no shelter or sustenance;
- Example: "bare rocky hills"
- Example: "barren lands"
- Example: "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"
- Example: "the desolate surface of the moon"
- Example: "a stark landscape"
[syn: bare, barren, bleak, desolate, stark]

2. not bearing offspring;
- Example: "a barren woman"
- Example: "learned early in his marriage that he was sterile"

3. completely wanting or lacking;
- Example: "writing barren of insight"
- Example: "young recruits destitute of experience"
- Example: "innocent of literary merit"
- Example: "the sentence was devoid of meaning"
[syn: barren, destitute, devoid, free, innocent]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Barren \Bar"ren\ (b[a^]r"ren), a. [OE. barein, OF. brehaing,
   fem. brehaigne, baraigne, F. br['e]haigne; of uncertain
   origin; cf. Arm. br['e]kha[~n], markha[~n], sterile; LL.
   brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish
   documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting.]
   1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young;
      sterile; -- said of women and female animals.
      [1913 Webster]

            She was barren of children.           --Bp. Hall.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; sterile.
      "Barren mountain tracts." --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.
      [1913 Webster]

            Brilliant but barren reveries.        --Prescott.
      [1913 Webster]

            Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter.
                                                  --Swift.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Mentally dull; stupid. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a
      pistil, or which has neither stamens nor pistils.

   Barren Grounds (Geog.), a vast tract in British America
      northward of the forest regions.

   Barren Ground bear (Zool.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the
      Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown
      bear of Europe.

   Barren Ground caribou (Zool.), a small reindeer (Rangifer
      Gr[oe]nlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and
      Greenland.
      [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Barren \Bar"ren\, n.
   1. A tract of barren land.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. pl. Elevated lands or plains on which grow small trees,
      but not timber; as, pine barrens; oak barrens. They are
      not necessarily sterile, and are often fertile. [Amer.]
      --J. Pickering.
      [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

barren
    adj 1: providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills";
           "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high
           Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark
           landscape" [syn: bare, barren, bleak, desolate,
           stark]
    2: not bearing offspring; "a barren woman"; "learned early in
       his marriage that he was sterile"
    3: completely wanting or lacking; "writing barren of insight";
       "young recruits destitute of experience"; "innocent of
       literary merit"; "the sentence was devoid of meaning" [syn:
       barren, destitute, devoid, free, innocent]
    n 1: an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for
         cultivation; "the barrens of central Africa"; "the
         trackless wastes of the desert" [syn: barren, waste,
         wasteland]