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.

---

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.

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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”

---

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

"This in turn will act as a magnet for talented people all over the UK who will hone their genius in the city and further enhance its prospects."

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Alongside this complexity, Warsh also appears to be looking to hone the Fed’s strategy for communicating with the public.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 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

In group chats, on social media and at the specialized camps where they hone their skills, kickers are disseminating vital information on how much they get paid.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

I bit my knuckle to hone the fear into something real and took deep breaths, steadying myself.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

That problem-solving begins long before Saturdays, when Smith hones his particular set of skills in sessions that might otherwise look like goofing off.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

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

The Josh O’Connor-led drama “Rebuilding” hones in on a rancher whose property is destroyed by a wildfire, following him as he tries to find hope and community in the aftermath of devastation.

From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2025

At sixty-seven he moved himself and his hones west, “to join the other fossils.”

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

Her early music took off on TikTok during the pandemic, where she honed a sound just askew of the pained songwriter fare and exuberant electro-pop that defined that era.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

But Stewart’s gravitas, honed over many years of British stage performance, made Picard the show’s gravitational center, and he was proud of that.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

“We’re pretty good honed in on who our audience is, and we saw the audience saying ‘I want to watch on my TV,’” Grotticelli said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

“We really honed in on the data sprawl problem. The lack of visibility to data that the enterprise has, and all the problems that that created.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Sissy had a mind like a freshly honed razor.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

He learned French through interactions with guests at the small hotel run by his parents in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan and is now honing his skills at his new school, where French-language classes are compulsory.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

Up-close and personal, Eleanor’s camera reveals the massive undertaking of producing a movie at this scale, honing in on small, intricate details to convey her daughter’s meticulousness.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

Pre-reading skills, for example, are easier to develop in the language a child has been honing since birth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

They are a party honing their messaging before the next general election.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Ser Jorah made a point of sharpening his sword each day, honing the point until it gleamed.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• whet

---