Word.ws English Dictionary

backboneless

backboneless adjective: without a backbone; invertebrate.

Adjective

backboneless (not comparable)

  1. (literally) Without a backbone; invertebrate.
    • Once, like a drunken man, I lurched forward, and fell upon my knees. Such was my backboneless state that for some seconds I remained where I was, half disposed to let things slide, accept the good the gods had sent me, and make a night of it just there.1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle
    Antonyms:
    backboned
  2. (figuratively) Cowardly, spineless.

Antonyms of backboneless

Origin of backboneless

From backbone + -less.

Words formed from backboneless

Questions about backboneless

What does backboneless mean?
Backboneless means without a backbone; invertebrate.
What part of speech is backboneless?
Backboneless is an adjective.

Words near backboneless in the dictionary

  1. backbonding ligand
  2. backbonding ligands
  3. backbonds
  4. backbone
  5. backboned
  6. backboneless
  7. backbonelessness
  8. backbones
  9. backbore
  10. backbored
  11. backbores

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backboneless (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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