skin and bones

American  

Or skin and bone

noun

1. a condition or state of extreme thinness, usually the result of malnutrition; emaciation.

   Anorexia had reduced her to skin and bones.

---

skin and bones Idioms  

1. Painfully thin, emaciated. This phrase often is expanded to nothing but skin and bones, as in She came home from her trip nothing but skin and bones. This hyperbolic expression—one could hardly be alive without some flesh—dates from the early 1400s.

---

Etymology

Origin of skin and bones

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Example Sentences

Baroness Golding said her dad told her of people at the camps who were "skin and bones with vacant eyes".

From BBC • May 5, 2025

Shred chicken into bite sized pieces, discarding skin and bones.

From Salon • Feb. 27, 2025

Differences between the Eco Edison and vessels built for offshore and deep water oil rigs aren’t yet apparent as the skin and bones of the towering ship take shape in a 120-foot-tall waterside assembly building.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 4, 2023

Now he weighed only what skin and bones do.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2022

Her father was down to ninety pounds, just skin and bones, and he was in pain and miserable.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Related Words

• bony
• gaunt
• scrawny
• skeletal
• skinny