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bare necessities

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bare necessities

That which is absolutely essential, with nothing superfluous, extravagant, or unnecessary. All I'm looking for in a mobile phone is the bare necessities: the ability to make phone calls. They weren't kidding when they said the apartment only had the bare necessities: just a bed, a bathroom, and a stove!

See also: bare, necessity

bare necessities

Just sufficient resources, with nothing to spare. For example, The room was furnished with just the bare necessities-bed, table, chair. This idiom uses bare in the sense of "mere, and nothing else," a usage dating from about 1200.

See also: bare, necessity