throw (someone) a bone

idiom

informal

: to offer (someone) something that is not very important or valuable especially to stop complaints or protests

The boss would not let his workers out early for the holiday but threw them a bone by buying lunch.

Examples of throw (someone) a bone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images Clive Mason - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images Each team got to design its own intro stint, and McLaren chose to throw a bone to the graybeards with some old cars. —Ars Technica, 19 Feb. 2025

Among a group of influential men – law professors – at a dinner party one evening was a Communist Party member brainstorming how to throw a bone to pro-democracy activists. —Lenora Chu, The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Oct. 2024

Hollywood has been known to throw a bone to actresses who really go for it and throw convention out the window, and in that vein, Adams and her fellow thespians have plenty to chew on. —Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2024

Suspending her was just a way to throw a bone to his supporters and get more media attention. —Tori Otten, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2023

Typically, Democratic bills that help working people throw a bone to corporate America. —Faiz Shakir, The New Republic, 27 Sep. 2021

If this movie is about heavenly reward for men who were deprived of their big-league dreams, why didn’t the script writer throw a bone to Black players? —J.d. Morris, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 Aug. 2021

But this’ll throw a bone to those fans who go ga-ga every time the old uniforms come out. —Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 20 Feb. 2021