pare

verb

ˈper How to pronounce pare (audio)
pared; paring
Synonyms of parenext

transitive verb

1
: to trim off an outside, excess, or irregular part of
pare apples
paring his nails
2
: to diminish or reduce by or as if by paring
pare expenses
the novel was pared down to 200 pages
parer noun

Synonyms

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Examples of pare in a Sentence

The company has to find a way to pare expenses. pared the stray branches on the tree
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
This is the bottom-up part of President Trump’s effort -- led by Elon Musk and DOGE -- to pare back the federal workforce and the administrative state. — Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 14 Mar. 2025 Stock market futures pared losses following the report while Treasury yields remained higher. — Jeff Cox, CNBC, 13 Mar. 2025 Stocks began dropping following the initial announcement, but climbed back up later in the day, paring some losses. — Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 11 Mar. 2025 Powell's comments pushed some traders to pare back their forecasts for how many interest rate cuts the Fed may deliver this year. — CBS News, 7 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for pare

Word History

Etymology

Middle English paren, borrowed from Anglo-French parer "to make, prepare, adorn, trim, cut off," going back to Latin parāre "to supply, provide, make ready," probably verbal derivative of a nominal base *paro-, formed from parere "to give birth to, bring into being, produce" — more at parturient

Note: The Latin verb is alternatively taken as a direct outcome of an Indo-European present formation *pr̥h3-i̯e-, but the phonetic development has been questioned. Most of the numerous compound verbs formed from parāre, as apparāre "to prepare" (see apparatus), comparāre "to prepare, collect, muster," disparāre "to divide" (see disparate), praeparāre "to furnish beforehand, prepare," reparāre "to recover, restore" (see repair entry 1), sēparāre "to divide" (see separate entry 1), fail to show vowel weakening. The verbs imperāre "to levy, order, command" (see emperor) and properāre "to hasten" (perhaps of independent origin) are for uncertain reasons exceptions. The Romance development in sense from "prepare" to a more concrete "cut (the peeling from), trim"—well attested in Old French—has become virtually the only sense in English, with the broader French meaning "prepare, adorn, decorate" being only marginally attested.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of pare was in the 14th century

Phrases Containing pare

Rhymes for pare

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pare
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Cite this Entry

“Pare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pare. Accessed 22 Mar. 2025.

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Kids Definition

pare

verb
ˈpa(ə)r How to pronounce pare (audio)
ˈpe(ə)r
pared; paring
1
: to trim off the outside or the ends of
2
: to reduce as if by paring

More from Merriam-Webster on pare

Nglish: Translation of pare for Spanish Speakers

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