skin and bones

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of skin and bones¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

Toward the end William looked like the skin-and-bones remnant of a saint.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bony
• gaunt
• scrawny
• skeletal
• skinny