Skip to main content
to bark

to bark

91 4.8
To speak in a short angry voice to give orders
  • verb
  • /bɑrk/
translation icon : hablar bruscamente
  • - What are you barking at out there?

And his theory was I'm going to bark, Sammy's going to bite.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I have not felt silenced in my career because I just bark back.

  • If you’re asking my advice, I think that you are barking mad.

  • I think he was barking at me.

  • Now he is barking at everybody and he is pulling at the lead.

  • If he barks, just bark back.

  • You don't just fly in here and start barking orders.

  • Porsche, what are you barking at, boy?

  • So did Greyhorse, though he was barking orders to his trauma team the whole time.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Jared turned and barked an order in guttural French to one of the sailors nearby.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • I often find myself having to bark at my dog to get him to stop misbehaving.

Synonyms

to shout
vsto bark
644 1.0

To speak very loudly to get attention or show strong feeling

is focused on short sharp commands rather than volume for attention
to growl
vsto bark
76 2.2

To make a low, deep sound to warn or show anger

is spoken suddenly and sharply rather than as a low sound
to bellow
vsto bark
39 4.7

Shout loudly in a deep voice because you are angry or hurt

is brief and abrupt in tone rather than prolonged deep shouting
to roar
vsto bark
31 2.7

To say something in a very loud strong voice

is sharp and quick rather than extremely loud and forceful speech
to mouth off
vsto bark
  • Informal
28 8.3

To speak rudely and loudly to a person in charge

is commanding and abrupt rather than provocative or rude
to snarl
vsto bark
21 5.8

To say something in an angry, sharp voice

is more abrupt and commanding than loud anger
to chew out
vsto bark
  • Informal
13 7.0

Scold someone angrily in front of others

is shorter and more abrupt instead of a sustained scolding
to bite out
vsto bark
  • Informal
7.5

Say something suddenly and sharply when angry or annoyed

is sharper and more abrupt than longer scolding
to gruff
vsto bark
6.4

To speak in a rough, low voice that sounds unfriendly

is sharper and shorter rather than merely rough in tone

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 Harsh

to snap
151 4.0
to bark
91 4.8
to say
1.0
to murmur
11 4.2

Surface Forms

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

Etymology

Bark (to speak sharply) comes from comparing a short, rough command to a dog's sharp noise, so to bark at someone is to speak in a quick, harsh way.