Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bare bones

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.94 in modern English

Syllables: bare bones
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

1

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The essential elements of something; the minimum viable set of elements; especially when they are described without going into detail.

Example Sentences

"He had only been taught the bare bones of the system, but carried on regardless."
"The bare bones of a cookbook are its recipes, but as a genre it is so elastic and malleable that it can contain a range of other purposes and dimensions."
"Typically, this meant that the teams were turning around two sets a week, with a train rolling into the depot on a Sunday for what Hinze describes as a "big strip-out". This would pull the carriages back almost to the bare bones."

Etymology

By metaphor with the skeleton versus the whole body including the flesh.

Phrases

bare-boned bells and whistles flesh out

Frequently Paired Words

bare-boned bells and whistles flesh out skeleton skeletonized

Questions

What does bare bones mean?: The essential elements of something; the minimum viable set of elements; especially when they are described without going into detail.
Where does bare bones come from?: By metaphor with the skeleton versus the whole body including the flesh.

How to pronounce bare bones

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “bare bones”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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