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to bark

to bark

109 1.0
To make a sharp loud sound like a dog
  • verb
  • /bɑrk/
translation icon : ladrar
  • What is that dog barking about?
  • dogs bark
  • hear a dog barking

Those dogs didn't just bark the house down, they barked the White House Down.

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Examples

  • Every day, the mailman comes, the dog barks, the mailman goes away.

  • I rang the bell, and a dog barked and hurled itself against the door.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • - Maybe l should get him to bark like a dog or something.

  • Maybe if we just start barking, a dog will come to us.

  • My dog will bark at any passers-by

  • The white dog was barking, barking, and running in excited circles around us.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • A Doberman on the other side started barking and jumping against the door.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The dog stood spraddle-legged on the deck, barking with all its might at a man cowering in a corner.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • I heard Rusty barking.

  • When he saw the stranger approaching, his dog began to bark loudly, warning him of potential danger.

Synonyms

to squawk
vsto bark
16 4.7

To make a loud, harsh cry like a bird

is a doglike sharp loud sound rather than a harsh birdlike screech
to bay
vsto bark
5 6.8

To bark or howl loudly without stopping

is shorter, sharper loud sounds rather than long persistent howls
to yap
vsto bark
1 5.2

To make short, high barks like a small dog

is louder and less high pitched and not always repetitive

Antonyms

586 1.0

To speak very quietly using only breath so one person can hear

Idioms

15 6.5

To be wrong about who or what caused something

1 6.1

Talks in a threatening way but does not act

to bark yourself
  • Informal
1 9.9

To do something yourself instead of asking someone else to do it

9.9

To do a task yourself and take responsibility for what happens

To do work yourself when you hired someone else to do it

Compounds

1 6.5

A small beetle that bores tunnels in tree bark and often kills the tree

1 7.2

A light boat made from birch tree bark and used by Native people in North America

Dried tree bark with a warm, sweet smell used as a cooking spice

A very high, sharp sound a dog makes

bitter-bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A small shrub with large pink sepals that people use as medicine for fever

9.9

A tropical tree with smelly, poisonous bark and strong wood whose bark and seeds people use as medicine

9.9

A tropical American tree with rough, smelly poisonous outer layer and very hard wood used in traditional medicine

canella bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A spicy, fragrant inner bark from a small tropical tree used as a spice and medicine

Cartagena bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Bark from a Colombian tree people used long ago to make medicine for malaria

A fragrant bark from a small shrub for making incense and health drinks

Bark from a tree used as a spice that smells like cinnamon and tastes stronger

A Chinese tree with strong-smelling bark used to make a type of cinnamon

chestnut-bark disease
  • Specialized
7.4

A disease that kills American chestnut trees by making deep wounds in their bark

chittam bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Dried bark from a tree used as a natural laxative

chittem bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Dried bark used as a medicine to help people have a bowel movement

cinchona bark
  • Specialized
8.5

Dried bark from a tree used to make medicine for malaria

dita bark
  • Philippine
9.9

An evergreen tree from eastern Asia and the Philippines with large leathery leaves and small green white flower clusters

eleuthera bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A fragrant bark from a small shrub used to make incense and health drinks

angostura bark
  • Specialized
9.9

Bitter bark from a South American tree that flavors drinks and medicines

Small insect that lives on tree bark and eats fungi and dead plant parts

A small insect that lives on tree bark and eats mold or tiny plant bits

9.9

A shrub or small tree that grows in southern US swamps whose bark is used to treat fever

Jesuit's bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Bark from a tree used to make medicine for malaria

Peruvian bark
  • Archaic
9.9

Dried bark from a South American tree that contains quinine used to treat malaria

Fragrant bark from a tropical tree used for incense and traditional medicine

tapa bark
  • Specialized
9.9

Thin stringy bark from the paper mulberry tree used to make tapa cloth

tappa bark
  • Australian
9.9

Thin bark from the paper mulberry tree that people beat to make cloth in Polynesia

smooth bark kauri
  • Australian
9.9

A large Australian tree with a smooth pale trunk and light soft wood used for building

spruce bark beetle
  • Specialized
8.0

A small insect that makes holes in the bark of spruce trees and often kills them

winter's bark
  • Specialized
9.9

A South American evergreen tree with aromatic bark used as a spice and medicine

winter's bark family
  • Specialized
9.9

A small group of mainly tropical shrubs and trees with scented bark

winter's bark tree
  • Specialized
9.9

A South American evergreen tree with fragrant leaves, bark used as medicine, and soft light wood

winter's bark
  • Literature
9.9

A South American tree bark used as a spice and traditional medicine

How Loud

to howl
48 2.6
to bay
5 6.8
to bark
109 1.0
to yap
1 5.2
to whimper
69 3.3

Surface Forms

bark infinitive
barked past
barked past participle
barking present participle
barks third person singular

Etymology

Bark (verb) comes from the same idea of copying the dog's noise, so to bark is to make that loud, sharp sound like a dog.