in one's bones
- idiom
- Informal
:
en el fondo
- She knew in her bones that they were lying to her.
Examples
-
I had it in my bones.
-
Gabriel, you just got music in your bones.
-
- You'll know when that stage is yours, sweetie, you'll feel it in your blood and in your bones.
-
But last night, after you called me... I sleep like the breastfed baby... and I wake up this morning, in the morning... and I know that, in my bones... my quarry is close.
-
I feel it in my bones that something big is about to happen.
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He sensed it in his bones that he would win the race.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A natural ability to understand or do something
202
3.4
A strong feeling that something is true or will happen
159
4.7
A guess based on a feeling rather than facts
8
3.6
A sure feeling that something is true
1
5.1
A quick sense that something is true without thinking
Antonyms
How Certain
Surface Forms
Morphology
in + one's + bones
The phrase maps a bodily image ('bones') onto an inner, deep conviction, so learners who know the words can access a related physical/visceral sense. However, the leap from a literal location in the body to the specific idiomatic sense of 'intuitive certainty without evidence' is metaphorical and not fully predictable without exposure, making it only partially transparent.
Etymology
In one's bones comes from the simple image of feeling something deep inside the body; people who felt aches or warnings in their bones before bad weather said they felt it 'in their bones', so the phrase now means a deep, instinctive feeling.