as in spines
a column of bones supporting the trunk of a vertebrate animal
found the backbone of a fish lying on the beach
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Recent Examples of backbones
Driving trucks is one of the unappreciated backbones of modern civilization.
—
IEEE Spectrum, 6 Sep. 2025
Platform product management is rarely treated as a strategic, first-class discipline, resulting in fragmented backbones that fail to support enterprise-wide innovation.
—Gaurav Dixit, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
By trading in metal backbones for a soft familiar-feeling vest, the wearable robot offers a more cost-effective and approachable solution for the millions of individuals worldwide who could possibly benefit from moderate limb support.
—Mack Degeurin Aug 21, Popular Science, 21 Aug. 2025
IEEE Spectrum, 6 Sep. 2025
Platform product management is rarely treated as a strategic, first-class discipline, resulting in fragmented backbones that fail to support enterprise-wide innovation.
—Gaurav Dixit, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
By trading in metal backbones for a soft familiar-feeling vest, the wearable robot offers a more cost-effective and approachable solution for the millions of individuals worldwide who could possibly benefit from moderate limb support.
—Mack Degeurin Aug 21, Popular Science, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backbones
spines
Noun
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Instead, the authors think the males may have mounted the females , who were lying on their sides, and pressed down on the females’ tails during mating, accidentally breaking the neural spines.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
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Their characteristic projecting spines serve both as flotation modulators (via a complex process akin to raising and lowering protoplasmic sails) and as masts permitting the cell to extend itself outward into the surrounding water and feed.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Backbones.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backbones. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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