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Glite Dictionary
bare-boned design

bare-boned design

5.7
A simple design that has only the basic parts needed
  • noun
translation icon : diseño minimalista
  • The bare-boned design of the website makes it easy to navigate.

Examples

  • The architect chose a bare-boned design to highlight the building’s functional aspects.

  • Many modern homes feature a bare-boned design that emphasizes simplicity.

  • Many startups prefer a bare-boned design for their first product to save costs and test ideas.

  • The architect favored a bare-boned design for the new building.

  • Many startups prefer a bare-boned design for their first product to save costs and test ideas.

  • The bare-boned design of the website makes it easy to navigate.

  • Many modern homes feature a bare-boned design that emphasizes simplicity.

Antonyms

elaborately
11 4.5

In a way that has many small details and rich decoration

How Minimal

bare-boned design
5.7
simple
220 1.0

Surface Forms

bare-boned design singular
bare-boned designs plural

Morphology

bare-boned + design

The meaning 'stripped down to basic features' follows transparently from the constituents as a metaphorical extension of 'bare' (without covering) + 'bones' (the structural core), so a learner who knows those words can usually infer the sense. However, the phrase is metaphorical rather than strictly compositional and the orthographic variant 'bare-boned' is nonstandard compared with 'bare-bones', so it is not fully literal or fully predictable.

Etymology

Bare-boned design may come from the image of something bare with only bones showing, like a skeleton with no extra parts. That's why the phrase means 'a design with only its most basic or essential parts'.