: including only what is most basic or necessary
a bare-bones email program
Skyscrapers of steel hung with curtain walls of glass, these sleek buildings were impressive monuments to bare-bones architectural integrity.—
C. A. Mills
C. A. Mills
: the barest essentials, facts, or elements
the bare bones of her life
Examples of bare-bones in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Russell Platt, New Yorker, 20 May 2026
Today, big airlines can sell a handful of bare-bones seats at Spirit-level prices while still charging more for standard and premium tickets elsewhere on their planes.
—Rio Yamat, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026
Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2026
The play begins with a forbidding thumping on a glass window outside a bare bones upstairs apartment where B lives a subsistence-level life with his mother.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for bare-bones
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Adjective
Costumes are dark and minimal (at the end, Erika wears the same black-cocktail-dress-and-pearls ensemble that Vanessa wore at the opening); the staging is bare-bones—just a couple of chairs, stark lighting, no projections, and a few minutes of dry ice during the snow scene.
—Russell Platt, New Yorker, 20 May 2026
Today, big airlines can sell a handful of bare-bones seats at Spirit-level prices while still charging more for standard and premium tickets elsewhere on their planes.
—Rio Yamat, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026
Plural noun
Boyle puts extra meat on Patrick’s bare bones with a soulful performance that meshes precisely with Petticrew’s turn as the slight-in-stature but formidably strong-willed Shiv.
—Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2026
The play begins with a forbidding thumping on a glass window outside a bare bones upstairs apartment where B lives a subsistence-level life with his mother.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 13 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for bare-bones
Cite this Entry
“Bare-bones.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bare-bones. Accessed 1 Jun. 2026.
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