skin and bones

American  

Or skin and bone

noun

1. a condition or state of extreme thinness, usually the result of malnutrition; emaciation.

   Anorexia had reduced her to skin and bones.

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skin and bones Idioms  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of skin and bones

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Example Sentences

Baroness Golding said her dad told her of people at the camps who were "skin and bones with vacant eyes".

From BBC • May 5, 2025

Shred chicken into bite sized pieces, discarding skin and bones.

From Salon • Feb. 27, 2025

When you take a collagen supplement, that collagen probably comes from cow, pig and fish parts, such as tendons, skin and bones.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 2, 2023

“She was skin and bones, and she refused to eat,” said Sandra, a homeless woman who lives on the pavement near the Target store, less than a block away.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 26, 2020

The bear was skin and bones, like a lumpy white rug, lying on green grass with one paw lifted up in a kind of salute.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

Related Words

• bony
• gaunt
• scrawny
• skeletal
• skinny