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

See Examples For:

cut to the bone

In some places, it cut to the bone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026

"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

That’s why substantial investigative teams are rare, especially as newspapers cut to the bone to survive.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 10, 2021

Cities are broke, office districts dormant, services cut to the bone.

From Slate ● May 13, 2020

So quiet that in the previous year’s race against California he’d rowed the whole two miles with his thumb cut to the bone and never mentioned it to anyone.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

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