Word.ws English Dictionary

to the backbone

to the backbone prepositional phrase: through and through; thoroughly; entirely.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Through and through; thoroughly; entirely.
    • staunch to the backbone1834, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Last Days of Pompeii
    • Sir Culling was an extreme Low Churchman, an Exeter Hallite to the backbone, and the head and front of the Platitudinarian Party.1894, Richard William Murray, South African Reminiscences, page 138

Synonyms of to the backbone

9 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Questions about to the backbone

What does to the backbone mean?
To the backbone means through and through; thoroughly; entirely.
What part of speech is to the backbone?
To the backbone is a prepositional phrase.

Words near to the backbone in the dictionary

  1. to tell the truth
  2. to tell you the truth
  3. to that effect
  4. to that end
  5. to the
  6. to the backbone
  7. to the best of one's knowledge
  8. to the bone
  9. to the bones
  10. to the brim
  11. to the contrary

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: to the backbone (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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