Meanings
pare1
present singular third person pares · participle present paring · participle past pared · past pared
- transitiveoften with down or backTo reduce, diminish or trim gradually something as if by cutting off.
Albert had to pare his options down by disregarding anything beyond his meager budget.
2 more examples
Also referring to the deeds of certain Border Ruffians, he said, rapidly paring away his speech, like an experienced soldier, keeping a reserve of force and meaning, “They had a perfect right to be hung.”
1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John BrownFrom May 29 another 10 min. are being pared from the southbound journey, and the time over the 504.4 miles from Paris to Hendaye will come down to 6 hr. 58 min., an average of 72.4 m.p.h. with two intermediate stops.
1960 April, “The European Summer Timetables”, in Trains Illustrated, page 223
Pare2
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*per-“to bring forward, bring forth”
- Latinparō“to prepare, arrange; to provide, furnish; to resolve, purpose”
- Old Frenchparer“to arrange, prepare, trim”
- Middle Englishparen
- Englishpare
From Middle English paren, from Old French parer (“to arrange, prepare, trim”), from Latin parō (“to prepare, arrange; to provide, furnish; to resolve, purpose”) (related to pariō (“to bear, to give birth to; to spawn, produce, beget; to procure, acquire”)), from a Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to bring forward, bring forth”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian беля, изрязвам
- беля (belja)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- изрязвам (izrjazvam)To reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- подрязвам (podrjazvam)To reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
Chinese Mandarin 削皮, 去皮
- 削皮 (xiāopí)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- 去皮 (qùpĺ)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
Czech oříznout, seříznout
- oříznoutTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- seříznoutTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- okrájetTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- okrájetTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- ořezatTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
Dutch pellen, schillen
- pellenTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- schillenTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- snoeienTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- (af)knippenTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- pellenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- schillenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- beknibbelenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- besnoeienTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- beperkenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
Finnish kuoria, leikata
- kuoriaTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- leikataTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- supistaaTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
French éplucher, peler
- éplucherTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- pelerTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- rognerTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
German schälen, pellen
- schälenTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- pellenTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- abschälenTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- abschneidenTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- abhobelnTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- beschneidenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- zurückschneidenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- trimmenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- stutzenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- zurechtstutzenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- kappenTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
Russian очищать, уре́зать
- очищать (očiščatʹ)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- уре́зать (urézatʹ)To reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
Spanish pelar, mondar
- pelarTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- mondarTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
Swedish skala, skala ned
- skalaTo remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- skala nedTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- göra avkallTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- minskaTo reduce or trim something (as if) by cutting off
- verkatrim a hoof
Yiddish שאָבן, שנײַדן
- שאָבן (shobn)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- שנײַדן (shnaydn)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- אָפּשיילן (opsheyln)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
- אַרומשנײַדן (arumshnaydn)To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a knife
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pare
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
pare. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pare
“pare.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pare. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pare,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pare.
Source: pare on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.