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skeleton.

The system that provides support to an organism, where in vertebrates it is internal and consists of bones and cartilage, and external in some other animals.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈskɛlɪtən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɛlətən/General-American[ˈskɛləʔn̩]General-American
  1. The system that provides support to an organism, where in vertebrates it is internal and consists of bones and cartilage, and external in some other animals.

  2. An anthropomorphic representation of a skeleton.

    Her whimsical Halloween decorations include dancing skeletons who sing an eerie song.
  3. A very thin person.

    figuratively
    She lost so much weight while she was ill that she became a skeleton.
  4. The central core of something that gives shape to the entire structure; an outline of a longer project.

    figuratively
    The skeleton of the organisation is essentially the same as it was ten years ago, but many new faces have come and gone.
    I've written three stories. Well, one is a skeleton, but the other two are mostly complete.
  5. A frame that provides support to a building or other construction.

  6. A client-helper procedure that communicates with a stub.

    In remote method invocation, the client helper is a ‘stub’ and the service helper is a ‘skeleton’.
  7. The vertices and edges of a polyhedron, taken collectively.

  8. A full subcategory of another category, consisting of one object from each isomorphism class in the original.

  9. A very thin form of light-faced type.

  10. A minimum or bare essentials.

    attributive · especially
  11. The network of veins in a leaf.

  12. Clipping of skeleton in the closet (“a shameful secret”).

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · idiomatic
Where this word comes from

From New Latin sceleton, from Ancient Greek σκελετόν (skeletón), the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós, “dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy”), from σκέλλω (skéllō, “dry, dry up, make dry, parch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”); compare Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”).

verb/ˈskɛlɪtən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɛlətən/General-American[ˈskɛləʔn̩]General-American
  1. To reduce to a skeleton; to skin; to skeletonize.

    archaic · transitive
  2. To minimize.

    archaic · transitive
Where this word comes from

From New Latin sceleton, from Ancient Greek σκελετόν (skeletón), the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós, “dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy”), from σκέλλω (skéllō, “dry, dry up, make dry, parch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”); compare Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”).

noun/ˈskɛlɪtən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɛlətən/General-American[ˈskɛləʔn̩]General-American
  1. A type of tobogganing in which competitors lie face down, and descend head first.

    uncountable
  2. The form of toboggan used in this sport.

    countable
Where this word comes from

The etymology of the term is disputed between two versions. * From the sled used, which originally was a bare frame, like a skeleton. * From Norwegian kjaelke (a type of ice sled) through a bad anglicization as "skele".

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.