backbone

American  

[bak-bohn] / ˈbækˌboʊn /

noun

• backbones
  plural

1. Anatomy. the spinal column; spine.

2. strength of character; resolution.

   Synonyms:

   fortitude, decision, firmness

3. something resembling a backbone in appearance, position, or function.

4. Bookbinding. a back or bound edge of a book; spine.

5. Nautical. a rope running along the middle of an awning, as a reinforcement and as an object to which a supporting bridle or crowfoot may be attached.

6. Naval Architecture. the central fore-and-aft assembly of the keel and keelson, giving longitudinal strength to the bottom of a vessel.

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backbone British  

/ ˈbækˌbəʊn /

noun

1. a nontechnical name for spinal column

2. something that resembles the spinal column in function, position, or appearance

3. strength of character; courage

4. the main or central mountain range of a country or region

5. nautical the main longitudinal members of a vessel, giving structural strength

6. computing (in computer networks) a large-capacity, high-speed central section by which other network segments are connected

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backbone Scientific  

/ băk′bōn′ /

1. See vertebral column

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backbone Cultural  

1. The primary line(s) that connects the slower, shorter cable portions of a communications network together. (See last mile.) In larger networks, such as the Internet, a backbone consists of high-capacity, high-speed lines that can extend over great distances.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• backboned
  adjective
• backboneless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• backbones
  plural

Etymology

Origin of backbone

1250–1300; Middle English bacbon. See back ¹, bone ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

backbone backbones

Transfer pathways, he added, “will remain essential, and CSU and UC will always be the backbone of baccalaureate education in California.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Water risks becoming a flashpoint in a region grappling with climate change and population growth, which are stretching resources in the agricultural sectors that form the backbone of both countries' economies, experts say.

From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026

U.S. government bonds remain the backbone of the global financial system and set the baseline for a range of investments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

A sausage-and-pepper meal starter eliminates most of the chopping; canned tomatoes provide the sauce’s backbone; and a few spoonfuls of prepared sun-dried tomato pesto pull everything into focus.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

Each strand of DNA, recall, is a long sequence of “bases”—A, T, G, and C. The bases are linked together by the sugar-phosphate backbone.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The chart shows strongly performing security and infrastructure, which provides “critical data backbones, compute pipelines and complex protection systems that generative models actively expand rather than displace.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

Data centers also need to be close enough to users and network backbones to provide fast digital services.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

For decades, palaeontologists believed that the largest ocean predators were vertebrates with backbones such as fish and reptiles while invertebrates like octopuses and squid played supporting roles.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026

Animals without a backbones evolved first, around 700 million years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

Some lucky chance in our worlds long ago must have meant that creatures with backbones had it a bit easier, so all kinds of other shapes developed, all based on the central spine.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• foundation
• spine