skin and bones
or skin and bone
noun
a condition or state of extreme thinness, usually the result of malnutrition; emaciation: Anorexia had reduced her to skin and bones.
QUIZZES
DO YOU KNOW THIS VOCABULARY FROM "THE HANDMAID'S TALE"?
"The Handmaid's Tale" was required reading for many of us in school. Everyone else has probably watched the very popular and addictive TV show. Do you remember this vocabulary from the book, and do you know what these terms mean?
Question 1 of 10
decorum
Origin of skin and bones
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
Words nearby skin and bones
skimobile, skimp, skimpy, skin, skin alive, skin and bones, skin care, skin deep, skin dose, skin drag, skin effect
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for skin and bones
Toward the end William looked like the skin-and-bones remnant of a saint.
A Circuit Rider's Wife|Corra Harris
Idioms and Phrases with skin and bones
skin and bones
Painfully thin, emaciated. This phrase often is expanded to nothing but skin and bones, as in She came home from her trip nothing but skin and bones. This hyperbolic expression—one could hardly be alive without some flesh—dates from the early 1400s.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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