What does "bone" mean?
A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
Bone
/bəʊn/ adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
- Grammar: bone is listed as adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: os, osseous tissue, adamant, aitchbone.
- Useful contrasts: bone in, cartilage, cartilages.
- Usage evidence: I have a bone to pick with you.
How to use "bone"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bone" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bone" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bone" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bone" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bone" is acting as adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "os" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bone", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates. uncountable
"Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra."
- 2 Clipping of trombone. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang
- 3 a shade of white the color of bleached bones wordnet
- 4 Any of the components of an endoskeleton, made of this material. countable
"No Trophee, Sword, nor Hatchment o're his bones."
- 5 rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates wordnet
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 A bone of a fish; a fishbone. countable, uncountable
- 7 the porous calcified substance from which bones are made wordnet
- 8 A bonefish. countable, uncountable
"The reason I rarely fish for Mag Bay bones with a 5-weight or 6-weight is the number of fish that can turn light stuff inside out."
- 9 One of the rigid parts of a corset that forms its frame, the boning, originally made of whalebone. countable, uncountable
- 10 One of the fragments of bone held between the fingers of the hand and rattled together to keep time to music. countable, uncountable
- 11 Anything made of bone, such as a bobbin for weaving bone lace. countable, uncountable
- 12 The framework of anything. countable, figuratively, uncountable
- 13 An off-white colour, like the typical colour of bone. countable, uncountable
- 14 A dollar. US, countable, in-plural, informal, uncountable
- 15 The wishbone formation. countable, informal, uncountable
- 16 An erect penis; a boner. countable, slang, uncountable
"Speakin' on the phone, for hours on end / On the bone from just listenin', and then:"
- 17 A domino or die. countable, in-plural, slang, uncountable
"Let's head to the casino and roll them bones!"
- 18 A cannabis cigarette; a joint. countable, slang, uncountable
"In between sets I took her outside, sat against a fence near the dumpster, and smoked a bone with her."
- 19 A reward. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"When I'm a good dog they sometimes throw me a bone in"
Verb
- 1 To prepare (meat, etc) by removing the bone or bones from.
"One of the fish stalls specialized in boning shad, and he who has never eaten a boned shad baked twenty minutes on a hot oak plank has been deprived of the most delicious morsel that the ocean yields."
- 2 To apprehend, steal. slang, transitive
"“Did I?” said Squeers, “Well it was rather a startling thing for a stranger to come and recommend himself by saying that he knew all about you, and what your name was, and why you were living so quiet here, and what you had boned, and who you had boned it from.”"
- 3 To sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.
"Joiners, &c., bone their work with two straight edges."
- 4 remove the bones from wordnet
- 5 To fertilize with bone.
"He cites an instance of land heavily boned 70 years ago as “still markedly luxuriant beyond any other grass land in the same district.”"
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 study intensively, as before an exam wordnet
- 7 To put whalebone into.
"Having my stays very fully boned and fitted with shoulder-straps."
- 8 To make level, using a particular procedure; to survey a level line.
"boning rod"
- 9 To have sexual intercourse (with). ambitransitive, slang, usually, vulgar
"O Memmius, well and slowly did you bone me, supine, day by day, with the whole of that beam."
- 10 To perform “bone pointing”, a ritual that is intended to bring illness or even death to the victim. Australia, dated
"“You don’t know!”, Bony echoed. “You can tell me who boned me fifteen years ago on the other side of the world, and you can’t tell me who killed the white-fella in the Crater”."
- 11 To study. usually
"bone up"
- 12 To polish boots to a shiny finish.
"[…] the permanent boning (excessive polishing) of boots by recruits […]"
- 13 To nag, especially for an unpaid debt.
"Dix Handley: Don’t bone me! Cobby: Now look, I’m not boning you, Dix— Dix: Did I ever welsh? Cobby: Nobody said you did— Dix: You just boned me!"
Adjective
- 1 Of an off-white colour, like the colour of bone. not-comparable
Adjective
- 1 consisting of or made up of bone wordnet
Adverb
- 1 Used before an adjective as an intensifier not-comparable
"GWF, well almost anyway, 40, bone-lonely, desperately needs a friend in Southern Maine."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 An unincorporated community in Bonneville County, Idaho, United States, named after Orion Jost Bone. countable, uncountable
Antonyms
Example
"I have a bone to pick with you."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bone"?
Common synonyms include: os, osseous tissue, adamant, aitchbone, anklebone, anvil.
How do you use "bone" in a sentence?
I have a bone to pick with you.
How do you pronounce "bone"?
Pronounced /bəʊn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English bon, from Old English bān (“bone, tusk; the bone of a limb”), from Proto-Germanic *bainą (“bone”), from *bainaz (“straight”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, strike, beat”). Cognate with Scots bane, been, bean, bein, bain (“bone”), North Frisian bian, Biin, biinj (“bone; leg”), West Frisian bien (“bone”), Dutch been (“bone; leg”), German Low German Been, Bein (“bone”), German Bein (“leg”), German Gebein (“bones”), Swedish ben (“bone; leg”), Norwegian and Icelandic bein (“bone”), Breton benañ (“to cut, hew”), Latin perfinēs (“break through, break into pieces, shatter”), Avestan 𐬠𐬫𐬈𐬥𐬙𐬈 (byente, “they fight, hit”). Related also to Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favourable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”) (whence Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, beyn (“direct, prompt”), Scots bein, bien (“in good condition, pleasant, well-to-do, cosy, well-stocked, pleasant, keen”)), Icelandic beinn (“straight, direct, hospitable”), Norwegian bein (“straight, direct, easy to deal with”). See bain, bein.
Etymology 2
Unknown; probably related in some way to Etymology 1, above.
Etymology 3
Borrowed from French bornoyer (“to look at with one eye, to sight”), from borgne (“one-eyed”).
Etymology 4
Clipping of trombone.