barrens

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In these cases, intense grazing by urchins can strip seafloors of plant life, damaging marine habitats and creating so-called "urchin barrens."

From Science Daily • Dec. 12, 2025

The wild blueberry, which grows in the sprawling barrens of Maine’s rural east, is the state’s official berry and one of its most significant exports.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 13, 2023

But the rapid transformation of semirural areas into barrens of concrete tilt-up “logistic parks” is encountering a backlash.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2023

The mass die-out allowed the sea urchin population to explode, and in 2021, satellite imagery showed that 95 percent of California’s kelp forests had been destroyed and replaced by carpets of sickly sea urchin barrens.

From New York Times • Dec. 5, 2022

On the fifth day, I knew I was doomed to wander in endless barrens till I died.

From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine