barren Meaning, Definition & Usage

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

WordNet

Bar"ren adjective
Etymology
OE. barein, OF. brehaing, em. brehaigne, baraigne, F. bréhaigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. brékha, markha, sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting.
Definitions
  1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; -- aid of women and female animals.
    She was barren of children. Bp. Hall.
  2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; rile. "Barren mountain tracts." Macaulay.
  3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.
    Brilliant but barren reveries. Prescott.
    Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter. Swift.
  4. Mentally dull; stupid. Shak.
Bar"ren noun
Definitions
  1. A tract of barren land.
  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.

Webster 1913