• (British) IPA: /ˈbæɹən/

barren (comparative barrener, superlative barrenest)

1. (not comparable) Unable to bear children; sterile.

   I silently wept as my daughter's husband rejected her. What would she do now that she was no longer a maiden but also barren?

2. Of poor fertility, infertile; not producing vegetation.
   • 18, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify ), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323 ↗:

3. Bleak.
4. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty.
   • 1843, William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico

     brilliant but barren reveries

   • Augusr 28, 1731, Jonathan Swift, letter to John Gay

     But schemes are perfectly accidental. Some will appear barren of hints and matter, but prove to be fruitful.

5. Mentally dull; stupid.
   • 1599-1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, III, ii

     Set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too.

• sterile

• fertile
• fruitful

• French: stérile
• German: steril, unfruchtbar
• Italian: sterile, infertile
• Portuguese: estéril, infértil
• Russian: беспло́дный
• Spanish: estéril, infértil

• German: unfruchtbar, dürr, karg
• Italian: sterile, infruttifero
• Portuguese: estéril, infértil; árido
• Russian: беспло́дный
• Spanish: estéril, infértil

• German: ausgetrocknet, vertrocknet, trocken, dürr, kahl, ausgedörrt, karg
• Italian: desolato

barren (plural barrens)

1. An area of low fertility and habitation, a desolate place.

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

• German: Ödland, Öde, Kargland
• Russian: пу́стошь