Synonyms for barren
ˈbær ənbar·ren

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:3.0 / 3 votes

1. barrenadjective

   Synonyms:
   sterile

   Antonyms:
   fertile, fruitful

2. barrenadjective

   unable to bear children; sterile

   The pine barrens are a site lonely enough to suit any hermit.

   Synonyms:
   sterile

   Antonyms:
   fruitful, fertile

3. barrenadjective

   of poor fertility, infertile

   Synonyms:
   sterile

   Antonyms:
   fertile, fruitful

4. barrenadjective

   bleak

   Synonyms:
   sterile

   Antonyms:
   fruitful, fertile

5. barrenadjective

   not productive

   Synonyms:
   sterile

   Antonyms:
   fertile, fruitful

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. barren, waste, wastelandadjective

   an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation

   "the barrens of central Africa"; "the trackless wastes of the desert"

   Synonyms:
   waste product, waste, thriftlessness, permissive waste, wastefulness, waste matter, dissipation, waste material, wasteland

   Antonyms:
   existent, existing, fertile, hospitable

2. bare, barren, bleak, desolate, starkadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   spare, bare(a), devoid, perfect(a), consummate(a), blunt, unornamented, austere, au naturel(p), bare, raw, marginal, arrant(a), black, severe, gross(a), staring(a), simple(a), stripped, desolate, destitute, mere(a), cutting, everlasting(a), double-dyed(a), crude(a), dim, complete(a), innocent, plain, nude, unsheathed, pure(a), unfinished, stark(a), unadulterated, thoroughgoing(a), free, naked, bleak, unembellished, sodding(a), scanty, stark, utter(a), stern

   Antonyms:
   fertile, existent, existing, hospitable

3. barrenadjective

   not bearing offspring

   "a barren woman"; "learned early in his marriage that he was sterile"

   Synonyms:
   stark, bare, free, innocent, destitute, desolate, devoid, bleak

   Antonyms:
   existing, existent, hospitable, fertile

4. barren, destitute, devoid, free, innocentadjective

   completely wanting or lacking

   "writing barren of insight"; "young recruits destitute of experience"; "innocent of literary merit"; "the sentence was devoid of meaning"

   Synonyms:
   guiltless, gratis(p), ingenuous, innocuous, indigent, needy, impeccant, complimentary, destitute, loose, costless, liberal, free, stark, unacquainted(p), desolate, gratuitous, clean-handed, impoverished, detached, spare, innocent(p), innocent, poverty-stricken, sinless, devoid, bleak, bare, necessitous

   Antonyms:
   existent, hospitable, fertile, existing

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. empty

   wasteland; has no sight of plants, water, or any form of living things; lifeless

   "the barren wasteland was dry and lifeless"

   Submitted by anonymous on May 3, 2020  

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. barrenadjective

   Synonyms:
   unprolific, incapable of bearing offspring, not prolific

2. barrenadjective

   Synonyms:
   unfertile, fruitless, unproductive, sterile, ACARPOUS

3. barrenadjective

   Synonyms:
   scanty, not copious

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

1. barrenadjective

   Synonyms:
   sterile, agenestic, infecund, unprolific, unprocreant, unproductive, unfruitful, unfertile, effete, desert, unprofitable, fruitless, unremunerative, empty, stupid, dull, unimaginative, prosaic, devoid, uninspiring, uninteresting

   Antonyms:
   prolific, fecund, virile, fruitful, fertile, teeming

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:3.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "barren":

   sterile, arid, infertile, bare, skinned, unproductive, tundra, tailings, desolate, semi-arid

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How to use barren in a sentence?

1. Kabbalah:

   We must learn not to disassociate the airy flower from the earthy root, for the flower that is cut off from its root fades, and its seeds are barren, whereas the root, secure in mother earth, can produce flower after flower and bring their fruit to maturity.

2. Alien Life -RSB- Raymond:

   If you've been there or seen pictures, you know how barren that landscape is, in terms of fundamental nutrient availability of carbon and nitrogen, these things are tough to get your hands on when you're in a biological soil crust.

3. Sir Arthur Helps:

   Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.

4. Delcianna Winders:

   It is unacceptable to confine orcas to barren tanks that, to them, are the size of a bathtub.

5. R. W. Griswold:

   It is a barren kind of criticism which tells you what a thing is not.