cut to the bone

Idioms  

1. Severely reduced, as in During the Depression Grandmother's housekeeping money was cut to the bone. The phrase to the bone, literally meaning “through the flesh to the inmost part or core,” dates from about 1400. This expression in effect means that everything extraneous has been cut away so that only bone remains.

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Example Sentences

To stretch her legs, she had to leave a passenger door ajar, but September nights are raw in the Pacific Northwest, with sheets of rain that cut to the bone.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 18, 2023

"Their budget has been cut to the bone, and they are unable to perform many responsibilities that are vital to the national interest."

From Salon • Dec. 26, 2022

Sarah Manguso has earned acclaim for memoirs that cut to the bone.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 14, 2022

Unison, Scotland's largest union which represents public service workers, said there would be "catastrophic consequences", and that public services had already been "cut to the bone".

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2022

I can’t suffer looking at the university’s gleaming glass administration building—all clean lines and razor-sharp edges that cut to the bone.

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed

Related Words

• abbreviate
• compress
• curtail
• cut
• cut back
• cut down
• lessen
• minimize
• reduce
• shrink
• slash
• trim