Meaning & use

barren

adjective·Academic

Not producing much or any vegetation, crops, or offspring; empty or unproductive.

See it in a sentence

The explorers crossed miles of barren desert without seeing a single tree.

Years of drought left the once-fertile farmland completely barren.

A note on using this word

Barren traditionally described land or, in older usage, the inability to have children; today it is used mainly for land, landscapes, and figuratively for empty results, like barren negotiations.

Words with a similar meaning

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Words with an opposite meaning

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