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Glite Dictionary
💀 To remove flesh 🖊️ To outline 🍃 To strip parts
to skeletonize

to skeletonize

7.7
To remove most parts so only the basic frame remains
  • verb
  • /ˈskɛlɪtəˌnaɪz/
translation icon : despojar
  • In the garden, the insects skeletonize the leaves, leaving behind only the veins.
  • skeletonize leaves

Examples

  • During the experiment, the scientists noticed how the pests skeletonize the foliage of the crops.

  • For example, the Foxconn socket has solid pins and solid plastic, while the load socket has split pins and a more skeletonized plastic molding.

  • The caterpillars skeletonize the plants they feed on, stripping them down to just their framework.

Synonyms

to pare down
vsto skeletonize
9 4.4

Make something smaller by removing parts you do not need

is about removing all but the essential structural parts rather than trimming slowly
to essentialize
vsto skeletonize
  • Formal
1 9.1

To reduce something complex to basic features while ignoring important details

is about stripping away everything except a basic structural framework
to foreshorten
vsto skeletonize
1 7.5

Make something shorter in time or length while keeping its main parts

is about removing all nonessentials to leave a bare structure

Antonyms

complete
497 1.0

Having all needed parts and nothing missing

How Reduced

to skeletonize
7.7
to condense
21 4.2
to simplify
99 2.5

Surface Forms

skeletonize infinitive
skeletonized past
skeletonized past participle
skeletonizing present participle
skeletonizes third person singular

Morphology

skeletonize = skeleton (transparent) = skeleton + ize

A straightforward verbal derivation from 'skeleton' using '-ize' meaning 'to make or reduce to a skeleton/essential structure'.

Etymology

Skeletonize comes from the word skeleton ('bones') and the ending -ize ('to make'), so to skeletonize something is to remove small parts and leave just the basic structure or 'bones' of it.