Word.ws English Dictionary

make no bones about

UK/ˌmeɪk nəʊ ˈbəʊnz əˌbaʊt/US/ˌmeɪk noʊ ˈboʊnz əˌbaʊt/

make no bones about verb: to do, indicate, or say something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant.

Verb

make no bones about (third-person singular simple present makes no bones about, present participle making no bones about, simple past and past participle made no bones about)

  1. (idiomatic) To do, indicate, or say something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant.
    • [B]earyng hymſelfe [Abraham] bolde vpon goddes promyſſe, he made no manner bones ne ſtickyng, but wente in hande to offer vp his onely ſonne Iſaac in ſacrifyce, […][1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The fyrst Chapter.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The...
    • Therefore if any man alledge Gods power ageinſt thẽ [them], they bruſt through it boldly, & asfor mans hand, they make no bones at it, & ſo their great talking tung ſtinteth for no ſtoppes, but walketh ouer all the whole earth.1571, John Calvin, “[Commentary on Psalm 73:8–9]”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for...

Antonyms of make no bones about

Forms of make no bones about

third-person singular presentmakes no bones about
present participlemaking no bones about
past participlemade no bones about
pastmade no bones about

Origin of make no bones about

A reference to complaining about finding animal bones in food; compare find no bones in (“(obsolete) to experience no hindrances or obstacles; to do something without hesitation”) and have a bone to pick.

Questions about make no bones about

What does make no bones about mean?
Make no bones about means to do, indicate, or say something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant.
What part of speech is make no bones about?
Make no bones about is a verb.
How do you pronounce make no bones about?
Make no bones about is pronounced /ˌmeɪk nəʊ ˈbəʊnz əˌbaʊt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of make no bones about?
The past tense of make no bones about is made no bones about.

Words near make no bones about in the dictionary

  1. make muffins
  2. make music
  3. make neither head nor tail of
  4. make news
  5. make nice
  6. make no bones about
  7. make no mistake
  8. make no odds
  9. make no secret of
  10. make noise
  11. make noises

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make no bones about (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-make no bones about.ogg.

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