hone

¹ American  

[hohn] / hoʊn /

verb (used with object)

honed, honing

1. to make more acute or effective; improve; perfect.

   to hone one's skills.

2. to sharpen on a whetstone with a fine, compact texture.

   to hone a carving knife.

3. to enlarge or finish (a hole) using a precision tool with a mechanically rotated abrasive tip.

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noun

• hones
  plural

1. a whetstone of fine, compact texture for sharpening razors and other cutting tools.

2. a precision tool with a mechanically rotated abrasive tip, for enlarging holes to precise dimensions.

hone ² American  

[hohn] / hoʊn /

verb (used without object)

honed, honing

1. South Midland and Southern U.S. to yearn; long.

   to hone for the farm life; to hone after peach pie.

2. Archaic. to moan and groan.

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hone ¹ British  

/ həʊn /

noun

1. a fine whetstone, esp for sharpening razors

2. a tool consisting of a number of fine abrasive slips held in a machine head, rotated and reciprocated to impart a smooth finish to cylinder bores, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to sharpen or polish with or as if with a hone

hone ² British  

/ həʊn /

verb

1. to yearn or pine

2. to moan or grieve

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Usage

Hone is sometimes wrongly used where home is meant: this device makes it easier to home in on (not hone in on ) the target

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• honer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hones
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of hone¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English noun hone, hain “whetstone”; Old English hān “stone, boundary stone, rock”; cognate with Old Norse hein “hone”; akin to cone

Origin of hone²

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Anglo-French honer (unrecorded); Old French hogner “to grumble, growl,” from Germanic; compare Old Saxon hōnian “to abuse, revile”

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Explanation

The verb hone means to sharpen skills. When you practice shooting baskets every day after school, you are honing your skills as a basketball player. Hone, the verb, literally means to sharpen with a hone, a whetstone used to sharpen cutting tools. Use hone to describe someone working hard, perfecting or sharpening skills, as in "She is honing her skills as an actress by working in community theater." Hone, which rhymes with phone, is from the Old English word, han, meaning "stone, rock."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hone hones honed honing

Mwedziwendira wanted to hone her public-relations skills working for someone else before starting her own firm in her mid-40s.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

An actor's voice "is the result of years of rigorous training and apprenticeship" to hone talent, Yuko Sasaki, executive director of the Japan Actors Union, told AFP ahead of the ruling.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

Experts recommend focusing on classic disciplines that hone uniquely human skills and capabilities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

It’s a lifestyle not entirely dissimilar to the rigorous training of an ice-skating prodigy, putting in the work at all hours to hone their skill.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026

And—he can’t help but think—if he’s ever to become a true artist, he has to hone all his skills to perfection.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

The Daily Express also hones in on criticism of the announcement from the British Jewish community.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

Even as Cursor hones in on Composer, the company’s model-agnostic platform remains a key selling point, according to Ram Bala, professor of AI and analytics at Santa Clara University.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026

Even as China hones its formal sanctions toolkit, it still turns to informal methods when legal and political justification is thin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025

Brotherhood further hones that portrayal by writing John as a man making the same uneasy bargain to reengage with strangers as the rest of us.

From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2025

When he wasn’t digging up old hones, Archie Brubaker was teaching at universities in the East.

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

NBC had sought out Mr. Seinfeld, a late-night television regular known for his finely honed observational humor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

He then secured a position at Canterbury, where he honed his skills at cutting stone and came to appreciate the grand tradition of which he was now a part.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

A scholarship to Sedbergh School - "posh", in Brook's words - was where he honed his game, with 6.20am nets run by former Kent player Martin Speight.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

It is a technique honed in all forms of cricket at the highest level.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Certainly her strongest trait, the talent that gave support to all the others, derived from her father: a fine- honed sense of organization.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Evenepoel devotes more time than anyone in the peloton to testing equipment and honing his position on the bike.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

The 19-year-old, sporting a budding beard, usually operates from home, filling lulls by watching the TV show Criminal Minds or honing his drone-flying skills on a simulator.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

Unlike most of his predecessors, he had not spent decades honing his political skills and building alliances with colleagues.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

Schools sharpen students’ thinking and research skills, he noted, but higher education hasn’t been as good at honing students’ applied skills — and for AI, that includes knowing when to responsibly use the technology.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026

It could divide evenly among her hundred sentinels, or shift between them in any configuration, honing in where attention was required and receding where it wasn’t.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

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