Barren
Barren (bar"ren) , adjective
[Old English barein, Old French brehaing, fem. brehaigne, baraigne, French bréhaigne; of uncertain origin; compare Arm. brékhañ, markhañ, sterile; Late Latin 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.
She was barren of children.
2.
Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; sterile.
Barren mountain tracts.
3.
Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.
Brilliant but barren reveries.
Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter.
4.
Mentally dull; stupid. — Shakespeare
Collocations (4)
Barren flower , a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which has neither stamens nor pistils.
Barren Grounds (Geography) , a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions.
Barren Ground bear (Zoology) , a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe.
Barren Ground caribou (Zoology) , a small reindeer (Rangifer Gronlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.
Barren , noun
1.
A tract of barren land.
2.
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