Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Barren \Bar"ren\, a. [OE. barein, OF. brehaing, fem. brehaigne,
   baraigne, F. br['e]haigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm.
   br['e]kha[~n], markha[~n], sterile; LL. 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.           --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.

   {Barren flower}, a flower which has only stamens without a
      pistil, or which as neither stamens nor pistils.

   {Barren Grounds} (Geog.), a vast tract in British America
      northward of the forest regions.

   {Barren Ground bear} (Zo["o]l.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting
      the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the
      brown bear of Europe.

   {Barren Ground caribou} (Zo["o]l.), a small reindeer
      ({Rangifer Gr[oe]nlandicus}) peculiar to the Barren
      Grounds and Greenland.

Barren \Bar"ren\, n.
   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.

Source : WordNet®

barren
     n : an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation;
         "the barrens of central Africa"; "the trackless wastes of
         the desert" [syn: {waste}, {wasteland}]

barren
     adj 1: providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills";
            "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the
            high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a
            stark landscape" [syn: {bare}, {bleak}, {desolate}, {stark}]
     2: not bearing offspring; "a barren woman"; "learned early in
        his marriage that he was sterile"
     3: incapable of sustaining life; "the dead and barren Moon"