Meaning of skeleton in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Noun
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˈskɛlətn/

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  1. Noun

    skeleton

    Etymology

    late 16th century: modern Latin, from Greek, neuter of skeletos‘dried up’, from skellein‘dry up’

    Definitions

    1. something reduced to its minimal form

    Examples

    • « the battalion was a mere skeleton of its former self »
    • « the bare skeleton of a novel »
  2. 2. a scandal that is kept secret

    Examples

    • « there must be a skeleton somewhere in that family's closet »
  3. 3. the hard structure (bones and cartilages) that provides a frame for the body of an animal
  4. 4. the internal supporting structure that gives an artifact its shape

    Examples

    • « the building has a steel skeleton »

Famous quotes

  • « If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. »
    George Bernard Shaw
  • « If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance. »
    George Bernard Shaw
  • « Rigid, the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame. »
    Virginia Woolf
  • « A belief in hell and the knowledge that every ambition is doomed to frustration at the hands of a skeleton have never prevented the majority of human beings from behaving as though death were no more than an unfounded rumor. »
    Aldous Huxley
  • « Poetry is not only dream and vision it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before. »
    Audre Lorde

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