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pare

verb
\ ˈper How to pronounce pare (audio) \
pared; paring

Definition of pare

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
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Other Words from pare

parer noun

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

 And to be sure, there were a few years there in which the US and the Russian Federation worked together to get rid of redundant and unnecessary weapons systems and pare down their arsenals. — Alex Wellerstein, Quartz, "America’s nuclear-weapons policy isn’t what you think—it’s much worse," 6 Aug. 2019 That makes these next two weeks critical for teams deciding how to best pare down their rosters to get to a final 53 players. — John Clayton, The Denver Post, "NFL players who could become salary cap casualties before the season," 21 Aug. 2019 Money managers at two Chinese investment firms said they have been advised to pare back bond trading with UBS. — Julie Steinberg, WSJ, "UBS ‘Chinese Pig’ Apology Doesn’t Fly," 20 June 2019 The Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency argued their proposal would pare the cost of new automobiles and save as many as 1,000 lives annually by spurring motorists to trade in older models for newer, safer vehicles. — Jennifer A. Dlouhy, BostonGlobe.com, "Trump safety pitch for easing car standards rebutted by study," 7 Aug. 2019 Acting now, when the central bank has less room to pare rates than in past downturns, is partly aimed at getting ahead of any potential slump. — Bloomberg Wire, Dallas News, "Fed cuts interest rates for first time since financial crisis," 31 July 2019 The Mindtree deal in March this year, where Siddhartha sold his 20.32% stake for Rs3,269 crore to engineering conglomerate Larsen & Tourbo (L&T), was meant to pare his debt. — Pramod Mathew, Quartz India, "Tributes pour in as the body of a missing Indian coffee baron is found on the banks of a river," 31 July 2019 If Sanders is elected president, a Congress grappling with how to pass his plan may well pare back some of its promises. — Hope Yen, The Denver Post, "Fact check: Examining claims from 2020 Democratic debate," 30 July 2019 To help pare down further, Ouellette and Santosuosso redesigned the fireplace wall. — Marni Elyse Katz, BostonGlobe.com, "Stuck in college mode with your decor? A Roslindale couple gets a grown-up look.," 25 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pare.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of pare

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

History and Etymology for pare

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.

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More Definitions for pare

pare

verb
How to pronounce pare (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of pare

: to carefully cut off the outside or the ends of (something)
: to make (something) smaller : to reduce (something) in size, amount, or number

See the full definition for pare in the English Language Learners Dictionary

pare

verb
\ ˈper How to pronounce pare (audio) \
pared; paring

Kids Definition of pare

1 : to cut or shave off the outside or the ends of pare apples
2 : to reduce as if by cutting He had to pare the cost of his trip.

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