Word.ws English Dictionary

made one's bones

made one's bones is the simple past and past participle of make one's bones.

Meaning of make one's bones

Verb

make one's bones (third-person singular simple present makes one's bones, present participle making one's bones, simple past and past participle made one's bones)

  1. To commit a murder in order to be respected in a criminal gang.
    • Mario Cacciatore was fourteen when he made his bones.1976, Gloria Vitanza Basile, The Godson, page 232
  2. (broadly) To establish one's bona fides; to establish status and respect.
    • Politicians—good ones, at least—make their bones by knowing which way the wind is blowing.2018 January 18, Eric Bradner, Chris Cillizza, “Republicans are running in 2018. Running from Trump”, in CNN.com, retrieved 04 Sep 2018

Questions about made one's bones

What is made one's bones the simple past and past participle of?
Made one's bones is the simple past and past participle of make one's bones.

Words near made one's bones in the dictionary

  1. made off without payment
  2. made one
  3. made one's bed
  4. made one's bed and lain in it
  5. made one's bed and lay in it
  6. made one's bones
  7. made one's bow
  8. made one's entrance
  9. made one's exit
  10. made one's hand
  11. made one's manners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: made one's bones (page history and authors); make one's bones (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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