Boneless

adj

adj ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Without bones, especially as pertaining to meat or poultry prepared for eating.

    "Near-synonyms: boned, deboned"

  2. 2
    Without pizza crust; without pizza bones US, humorous
  3. 3
    Lacking strength, courage, or resolve. British, figuratively

    "I'm scared, I'm just boneless with fright."

Adjective
  1. 1
    being without a bone or bones wordnet

Example

More examples

"McDonald's will discontinue the use of boneless lean beef trimmings in their hamburgers."

Etymology

From Middle English bonles, banles, from Old English bānlēas (“boneless”), from Proto-Germanic *bainalausaz, equivalent to bone + -less. Cognate with Scots baneless (“boneless”), Dutch beenloos (“boneless; legless”), German beinlos (“legless”), Swedish benlös (“boneless”), Icelandic beinlaus (“boneless”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.