skeleton
Syllables: skel·e·tonUK/ˈskɛlɪtən//ˈskɛlətən/
skeleton noun: the system that provides support to an organism, where in vertebrates it is internal and consists of bones and cartilage, and external in some other animals. Also the clipping of skeleton in the closet.
Noun (1)
skeleton (plural skeletons or skeleta)
- The system that provides support to an organism, where in vertebrates it is internal and consists of bones and cartilage, and external in some other animals.
- At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a green creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Treasure Hunt—Flint’s Pointer”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part VI (Captain Silver), page 263
- An anthropomorphic representation of a skeleton.
- Her whimsical Halloween decorations include dancing skeletons who sing an eerie song.
- A Day or two after they parted, [Francis] Spriggs was choſe Captain by the reſt, and a black Enſign was made, which they called Jolly Roger, with the ſame Device that Captain [Edward] Low carried, viz. a white Skeliton in the Middle of it, with a Dart in one Hand ſtriking a bleeding Heart, and in...1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Spriggs and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, pages 411–412
- A very thin person.
- She lost so much weight while she was ill that she became a skeleton.
- The central core of something that gives shape to the entire structure; an outline of a longer project.
- The skeleton of the organisation is essentially the same as it was ten years ago, but many new faces have come and gone.
- I've written three stories. Well, one is a skeleton, but the other two are mostly complete.
- Synonyms:
- backbone
- A frame that provides support to a building or other construction.
- A client-helper procedure that communicates with a stub.
- In remote method invocation, the client helper is a ‘stub’ and the service helper is a ‘skeleton’.
- The vertices and edges of a polyhedron, taken collectively.
- A full subcategory of another category, consisting of one object from each isomorphism class in the original.
- A very thin form of light-faced type.
- A minimum or bare essentials.
- At the time of writing the halts have been reprieved due to doubts as to the legality of the withdrawal of services. It is feared that this reprieve may not outlast the summer timetable which, on the section in question, provides only a skeleton of the former service.1960 August, L. Hyland, “The Irish Scene”, in Trains Illustrated, page 468
- The rail industry has survived the first fortnight of the UK's COVID-19 crisis. Quick intervention from the Department of Transport has ensured that franchise operators will remain solvent during this period; rapid work to replan the timetable has delivered a minimum viable service plan; and the...2020 April 8, Matt Lovering, “An opportunity for the rail industry to deliver major change”, in Rail, page 46
- The network of veins in a leaf.
- However interesting the skeleton of a leaf that has been bleached by nature may be, it cannot be alleged to be beautiful in colour, and therefore it is not of much value for the purposes of household decoration.1870, Robert Kemp Philp, Best of everything, by the author of 'Enquire within'., page 336
- Rather than abstracting the leaf from the outline of the leaf, I can begin by working from the skeleton of the leaf.2010, Ruth B. McDowell, Piecing: Expanding The Basics
Verb
skeleton (third-person singular simple present skeletons, present participle skeletoning, simple past and past participle skeletoned)
- To reduce to a skeleton; to skin; to skeletonize.
- To minimize.
Noun (2)
skeleton (countable and uncountable, plural skeletons)
- A type of tobogganing in which competitors lie face down, and descend head first.
- Lugers, who slide feet first and reach the highest speeds, experience some of the same forces, but seem to suffer far fewer concussion-like symptoms than bobsled and skeleton athletes do, probably because a support strap often prevents their heads from banging into the ice.2020 July 26, Matthew Futterman, “Sledhead”, in New York Times
- Synonyms:
- skeleton tobogganing, skeleton sliding
- The form of toboggan used in this sport.
Also used as
skeleton is also the clipping of skeleton in the closet.
skeleton meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
skeleton in Hindi
- system that provides support to an organism
- कंकाल kaṅkāl
skeleton in Tamil
- system that provides support to an organism
- எலும்புக்கூடு elumpukkūṭu
- representation of a skeleton
- எலும்புக்கூடு elumpukkūṭu
- very thin person
- எலும்புக்கூடு elumpukkūṭu, எலும்பன் elumpaṉ
- central core of something
- கட்டமைப்பு kaṭṭamaippu
skeleton in Marathi
- कंकाल, सांगाडा
skeleton in Urdu
- system that provides support to an organism
- کَن٘کال kãkāl, اُسْتُخوان بَنْدی ustuxvān bandī
More languagesFewer languages
- skeleton in Bengali
- কঙ্কাল koṅkal
- skeleton in Telugu
- అస్థి పంజరం asthi pañjaraṁ
- skeleton in Malayalam
- അസ്ഥികൂടം asthikūṭaṁ, അസ്തിവാരം astivāraṁ, എല്ലുംകോലി elluṅkōli
- skeleton in Kannada
- ಅಸ್ಥಿಪಮ್ಜರ asthipamjara
- skeleton in Punjabi
- ਪਿੰਜਰ pijara
- skeleton in Gujarati
- કંકાલતંત્ર kaṅkāltantra
- skeleton in Odia
- କଙ୍କାଳ, କଙ୍କାଲ
- skeleton in Sanskrit
- कङ्काल kaṅkāla
- skeleton in Assamese
- জঁকা zõka, জকা zoka
- skeleton in Nepali
- कंकाल, कङ्काल, स्केलेटन
- skeleton in Pashto
- هډتړ haḍtaṛ, هډ مډ haḍmaḍ, هډ ګوډ haḍguḍ, ګرګی gərgay
- skeleton in Tagalog
- kalansay
- skeleton in Arabic
- هَيْكَل عَظْمِيّ haykal ʕaẓmiyy, هَيْكَل haykal
- skeleton in Malay
- rangka
- skeleton in Indonesian
- rangka, kerangka, skelet
- skeleton in Persian
- اسکلت eskelet
- skeleton in Thai
- โครงกระดูก kroong-grà-dùuk, กีฬาสเกเลตัน
- skeleton in Vietnamese
- bộ xương
- skeleton in Myanmar
- အရိုးစု a.rui:cu.
Examples of skeleton in a sentence
- The skeleton of echinoderms is made of ossicles, linked to each other via muscles and connective tissue.
- The skeleton key to this plan is the marketing, which will make the plan make sense when you see it.
- We came upon the skeleton while we were hiking.
Synonyms of skeleton
Forms of skeleton
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | skeletons |
| plural | skeleta |
| alternative form | sceleton |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | skeletons |
| present participle | skeletoning |
| past participle | skeletoned |
| past | skeletoned |
Origin of skeleton
From New Latin sceleton, from Ancient Greek σκελετόν (skeletón), the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós, “dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy”), from σκέλλω (skéllō, “dry, dry up, make dry, parch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”); compare Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”).
The etymology of the term is disputed between two versions. * From the sled used, which originally was a bare frame, like a skeleton. * From Norwegian kjaelke (a type of ice sled) through a bad anglicization as "skele".
Words formed from skeleton
- articulated skeleton
- autoskeleton
- carboskeleton
- choanoskeleton
- chondroskeleton
- cilioskeleton
- cytoskeleton
- dermatoskeleton
- dermoskeleton
- endoskeleton
- exoskeleton
- fibroskeleton
- hydroskeleton
- hydrostatic skeleton
- neuroskeleton
- nucleoskeleton
- skeletal
- skeletally
- skeletogenous
- skeleton at the feast
- skeleton bill
- Skeleton Clique
- skeleton clock
- skeleton crew
- skeletoneer
- skeleton flower
- skeleton grip
- skeletonic
- skeleton in one's closet
- skeleton in one's cupboard
- skeleton in one's house
- skeleton in the closet
- skeleton in the cupboard
- skeleton in the house
- skeletonisation
- skeletonization
- skeleton key
- skeleton leaf
- skeletonless
- skeletonlike
- skeleton programming
- skeleton proof
- skeleton regiment
- skeleton screen
- skeleton shrimp
- skeleton slider
- skeleton staff
- skeleton suit
- skeleton watch
- skeletony
- skelly
- visceral skeleton
- walking skeleton
- zonoskeleton
- skeleton sled
Phrases with skeleton
- skeleton keys
- skeleton crews
- skeleton grips
- skeleton sleds
- skeleton suits
- skeleton clocks
- skeleton staffs
- skeleton screens
- skeleton shrimps
- skeleton sliders
- skeleton sliding
- skeleton watches
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about skeleton
- What does skeleton mean?
- Skeleton means the system that provides support to an organism, where in vertebrates it is internal and consists of bones and cartilage, and external in some other animals.
- What is skeleton in Hindi?
- Skeleton in Hindi is कंकाल (kaṅkāl). See Skeleton meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is skeleton?
- Skeleton can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce skeleton?
- Skeleton is pronounced /ˈskɛlɪtən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of skeleton?
- The plural of skeleton is skeletons.
Words near skeleton in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: skeleton (page history and authors); skeleton (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); skeleton (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); skeleton (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-skeleton.ogg.
Cite this entry: “skeleton.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skeleton. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.