Noun
They found the fossil skeleton of a mastodon.
He hung a plastic skeleton on the door for Halloween.
She was a skeleton after her illness.
Only the charred skeleton of the house remained after the fire.
We saw a skeleton of the report before it was published.
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Noun
View Comments Experts have studied the skeletons and artifacts unearthed at the site over the years, but attempts to recover DNA from the remains proved elusive.—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 3 Apr. 2025 Both skeleton watches have a Grade 5 titanium case that houses skeletonized dials.—Anthony Demarco, Forbes.com, 1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
Six weeks after his birth, Rivera and Dorsey gave the first glimpse at their newborn by posting a picture of him on Instagram in a skeleton Halloween costume.—Ariana Quihuiz, Peoplemag, 29 June 2023 See All Example Sentences for skeleton
Word History
Etymology
Noun
New Latin, from Greek, neuter of skeletos dried up; akin to Greek skellein to dry up, sklēros hard and perhaps to Old English sceald shallow
: a firm supporting or protecting structure or framework of a living thing
especially: a framework made of bone or sometimes cartilage that supports the soft tissues and protects the internal organs of a vertebrate (as a fish or human being) compare endoskeleton, exoskeleton
2
: a very thin person or animal
3
: something forming a structural framework
skeleton
2 of 2adjective
1
: of, consisting of, or resembling a skeleton
a skeleton hand
2
: consisting of the smallest possible number of persons who can get a job done
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