bare

Definition

Minimal; that is or are just sufficient.

Etymology

From Middle English bare, bar, from Old English bær (“bare, naked, open”), from Proto-West Germanic *baʀ, from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare, naked”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós, from *bʰos- (“bare, barefoot”). Cognate with Scots bare, bair (“bare”), Saterland Frisian bar (“bare”), West Frisian baar (“bare”), Dutch bar (“bare”), German bar (“bare”), Swedish bar (“bare”), Icelandic ber (“bare”), Lithuanian basas (“barefoot, bare”), Polish bosy (“barefoot”).

Example Sentences

• "a bare majority"
• "Nature indeed furnishes us with the bare necessaries of life, but traffic gives us a great variety of what is useful"
• ""I refuse to show myself out of doors in my bare feet," the Centipede said. "I have to get my boots on again first.""