Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💪 Very thin 🦴 Made of bone
bony

bony

31 2.5
So thin that you can see the bones under the skin
  • adjective
  • /ˈboʊni/
: huesudo
  • Sondra bent over and kissed, one by one, the bony vertebrae of my spine.
  • bony shoulders
  • bony prominences

You know how like my, my shoulders are so Bony.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Wispy touch and weight of his arm, a thin bony arm resting with floating lightness on my chest.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Sheila sits with her arms wrapped around her bony frame, listening to Gina's compulsive talk.

    Academic text (1997)

  • You have such bony knees.

    Cleopatra (1963)

  • The priest was thin and bony, but he had a softness about him that was new.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Snake Song Woman is tall and bony, darker far than anyone in Taiesha's family.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Looking at Selam's bony face, it is hard to see the family resemblance between our two species.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The three of them look down at Jacob, their bony jaws in a perpetual smile.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Max dozed a little in his chair, his bald and bony head nodding slightly.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Then she stared at the bed, absent of Benoit, and remembered his bony form beside hers.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The doctor commented on how the patient's bony fingers made it difficult to find a pulse.

Synonyms

skinny
vsbony
349 1.3

Very thin in a way that looks unhealthy

can be used neutrally to describe simple thin appearance
scrawny
vsbony
  • Informal
44 4.2

Very thin and weak in a way that looks unhealthy

focuses on visible bones without implying weakness or ugliness
underweight
vsbony
8 3.1

Very thin and below a healthy weight for their age and height

refers to visible bones and thin appearance rather than measured weight
skeletal
vsbony
3 6.0

Very thin with bones showing under the skin

describes thinness more generally without implying severe loss or sickness
boney
vsbony
  • US
2 3.4

Thin so you can see or feel the bones

is the same meaning but spelled without the extra e
weedy
vsbony
1 5.4

Very thin and weak, with little muscle

highlights visible bone prominence rather than weak, underdeveloped build
scraggy
vsbony
1 7.9

Very thin and bony in a way that looks unhealthy

is similar but denotes plain thinness rather than gauntness
osseous
vsbony
  • Specialized
1 9.4

Relating to bone or made of bone

concerns outward thinness and easily seen bone outlines rather than bone tissue

Antonyms

fat
∞ 1.0

Having a lot of extra body weight

overweight
142 2.2

Weighing more than is healthy for a person's height

plump
46 2.7

A little fat and rounded in a healthy, attractive way

Compounds

bony fish
  • Specialized
1 3.7

A fish with a skeleton made mainly of bone, like a salmon or goldfish

bony-plated
1 7.6

A body covered in hard plates made of bone for protection

bony labyrinth
  • Specialized
9.5

A hollow part of the skull bone that holds and protects the inner ear

How Thin

emaciated
11 7.8
gaunt
15 7.3
bony
31 2.5
thin
310 1.0
to slim
25 2.4

Surface Forms

bony positive

Morphology

bony = bone (transparent) = bone + y

The adjective is derived from 'bone' + '-y' indicating 'having visible/prominent bones', which is straightforward for learners.

Etymology

Bony can also mean very thin, with bones that are easy to see. It comes from bone plus -y, so you can remember it as 'having bones showing', which is why a bony person or animal looks thin and you can see their bones.