What does "skin" mean?
The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.
Skin
/skɪn/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.
- Grammar: skin is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: hide, peel, ablate, abrade.
- Useful contrasts: ungual, clavus, core.
- Usage evidence: When the body is touched, receptors in the skin send messages to the brain causing the release of chemicals such as endorphins.
How to use "skin"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "skin" 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 "skin" 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 "skin" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "skin" 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 "skin" is acting as 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 "hide" 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 "skin", 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 The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human. uncountable
"He is so disgusting he makes my skin crawl."
- 2 body covering of a living animal wordnet
- 3 The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant. uncountable
- 4 an outer surface (usually thin) wordnet
- 5 The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc. countable
Show 20 more definitions
- 6 a bag serving as a container for liquids; it is made from the hide of an animal wordnet
- 7 A congealed layer on the surface of a liquid. countable
"In order to get to the rest of the paint in the can, you′ll have to remove the skin floating on top of it."
- 8 a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch wordnet
- 9 A set of resources that modifies the appearance and/or layout of the graphical user interface of a computer program. countable
"You can use this skin to change how the browser looks."
- 10 the rind of a fruit or vegetable wordnet
- 11 An alternate appearance (texture map or geometry) for a character model in a video game. countable
"My friend likes to use a Spider-Man skin in Fortnite."
- 12 a person whose head is bald or shaved wordnet
- 13 Rolling paper for cigarettes. countable, slang
"Pass me a skin, mate."
- 14 a member of any of several British or American groups consisting predominantly of young people who shave their heads; some engage in white supremacist and anti-immigrant activities and this leads to the perception that all skinheads are racist and violent wordnet
- 15 Clipping of skinhead. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, slang
"By the end of the show, fights would break out all over the place: the Atlantic City skins against the crew from Philly; the oldschool skinheads feuding with overzealous fresh-cuts."
- 16 a person's skin regarded as their life wordnet
- 17 A subgroup of Australian aboriginal people. Australia, countable, uncountable
"The younger brother questions the correctness of the pursuit of the girls. "They may be of the wrong subsection," he suggests. "We can take wrong skins," says the older brother, but the younger still holds back."
- 18 Bare flesh, particularly bare breasts. countable, slang, uncountable
"Let me see a bit of skin."
- 19 A vessel made of skin, used for holding liquids. countable, uncountable
"the Bacchic train, Who brought their skins of wine, and loaded poles That bent with mighty clusters of black grapes"
- 20 That part of a sail, when furled, which remains on the outside and covers the whole. countable, uncountable
"The skin of the sail is made of stretch-resistant Mylar"
- 21 The covering, as of planking or iron plates, outside the framing, forming the sides and bottom of a vessel; the shell; also, a lining inside the framing. countable, uncountable
- 22 The outer surface covering much of the wings and fuselage of an aircraft. countable, uncountable
- 23 A drink of whisky served hot. countable, uncountable
- 24 A person; chap. British, Ireland, countable, slang, uncountable
"He was a decent old skin."
- 25 A purse. UK, countable, obsolete, uncountable
"[…] and away I scampered with the tiddlywink-table, while Teddy Limber […] frisked the yokel of his yack and skin."
Verb
- 1 To injure the skin of. transitive
"He fell off his bike and skinned his knee on the concrete."
- 2 remove the skin from wordnet
- 3 To remove the skin and/or fur of an animal or a human. transitive
- 4 remove the bark of a tree wordnet
- 5 To high five. colloquial
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of wordnet
- 7 To apply a skin to (a computer program). colloquial, transitive
"Can I skin the application to put the picture of my cat on it?"
- 8 climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling wordnet
- 9 To use tricks to go past a defender. UK, transitive
"The Russian, sometimes out of sorts in recent weeks, was seeing plenty of the ball on the left-hand side up against Hunt, a 20-year-old right-back making his first Huddersfield start. Arshavin skinned the youngster at the first opportunity and crossed for Bendtner, who could not direct his close-range effort on target."
- 10 To become covered with skin or a skin-like layer. intransitive
"A wound eventually skins over."
- 11 To cover with skin, or as if with skin; hence, to cover superficially. transitive
"It will but skin and film the ulcerous place."
- 12 To produce, in recitation, examination, etc., the work of another for one's own, or to use cribs, memoranda, etc., which are prohibited. US, archaic, slang
- 13 To strip of money or property; to cheat. dated, slang
- 14 To sneak off. intransitive, obsolete, slang
- 15 To remove the top layers of paint from, revealing parts of the underlying medium or canvas. transitive
- 16 Short for skin up (“travel uphill on skis, snowboard, or bicycle”) abbreviation, alt-of
Example
"When the body is touched, receptors in the skin send messages to the brain causing the release of chemicals such as endorphins."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "skin"?
Common synonyms include: hide, peel, ablate, abrade, abrase, acne.
How do you use "skin" in a sentence?
When the body is touched, receptors in the skin send messages to the brain causing the release of chemicals such as endorphins.
How do you pronounce "skin"?
Pronounced /skɪn/.
Etymology
From Middle English skyn, skinn, from Old English scinn, from Old Norse skinn (“animal hide”), from Proto-Germanic *skinþą, from Proto-Indo-European *sken- (“to split off”), nasal variant of *skeh₁i-d- (“to cut”). Partially displaced native Old English hȳd (“skin, hide”), from which derives hide. Cognate with Dutch schinde (“bark”), dialectal German Schinde (“fruit peel”); also Breton skant (“scales”), Old Irish cenn (“covering, shell”), Irish scáin (“to tear, burst”), Latin scindō (“to split, divide”), Sanskrit छिनत्ति (chinátti, “to split”).