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bare bone

/bɛər boʊn/
IPA guide

Other forms: bare bones

Something that is bare bone has nothing but the essential, basic elements. A bare bone speech is short, simple, and direct.

When something is bare bone — or bare bones — it doesn't have a lot of frills or bells and whistles. Like a skeleton, which is literally a bunch of bare bones, anything described as bare bone has been stripped down to the basics. A bare bone staff at a hospital will have just enough people to keep the hospital running. A bare bone bus schedule will have very few stops. Bare bone things have been whittled down to the essentials.

Definitions of bare bone
  1. noun
    bone stripped of flesh
    see moresee less
    type of:
    bone, os
    rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates
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