variants
also boney
1
as in skinny
having a noticeably small amount of body fat
that bony old horse may have been deliberately starved
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in barren
producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation
bony hills from which sheepherders eked out a meager existence
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bony
Then stand or sit while bending forward at the waist, pinching the soft part of the nose below the bony portion on both sides for 10 minutes.
—
Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2023
Riders follow the instructions of Redbeard (given via onboard audio), which include finding and counting gems along the shore, looking out for bony opponents in Skeleton Valley and participating in a seaworthy singalong near the finale.
—Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 11 Jan. 2023
Santiago Calatrava is best known for bridges that leap and budgets that soar, for vast and bony white-steel structures that evoke high-tech ruins of the future and cause fiscal ruin in the present.
—Curbed, 6 Dec. 2022
There are two types of fish, cartilaginous and bony.
—Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2022
See All Example Sentences for bony
Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2023
Riders follow the instructions of Redbeard (given via onboard audio), which include finding and counting gems along the shore, looking out for bony opponents in Skeleton Valley and participating in a seaworthy singalong near the finale.
—Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 11 Jan. 2023
Santiago Calatrava is best known for bridges that leap and budgets that soar, for vast and bony white-steel structures that evoke high-tech ruins of the future and cause fiscal ruin in the present.
—Curbed, 6 Dec. 2022
There are two types of fish, cartilaginous and bony.
—Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2022
See All Example Sentences for bony
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bony
Adjective
-
But his own journey was not easy; at eight, he was rejected by the Croatian club Hajduk Split for being too skinny and too short.—
Sanat Pai Raikar,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 June 2026
-
This wide-leg style has a high-rise, straight-leg fit, perfect for complementing a skinny belt and a polished top, such as a collared shirt or a silk shirt.—
Irene Richardson,
InStyle,
31 May 2026
Adjective
-
The front of their single-story bungalow, though, remained a barren conundrum.—
The Washington Post,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
30 May 2026
-
Falling leaves or barren branches?—
Austin Meek,
New York Times,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Said was clean-shaven, with close-cropped, graying hair and thin, rectangular glasses.—
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin,
The Atlantic,
1 June 2026
-
Expect body hair to thin, disappear, Alpinize.—
Sandra Cisneros,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
Buddy was hiding in the bushes on the side of a desolate highway when he was found by a good Samaritan and brought to a rescue.—
Maryanne Dell,
Oc Register,
30 May 2026
-
The bleak, desolate masterpiece from 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine was used to great effect in 1995’s Natural Born Killers, the first film soundtrack produced by Reznor.—
Al Shipley,
SPIN,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Then came last year’s The Most Dear and The Future, a slender collection of tracks that straddled a line between pop, ambient, folk, and dance with an air of rustic mysticism that seemed to travel through music circles like gossip bursting from localized containment.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
2 June 2026
-
Within a year of his Vitali Daraselia Cup breakthrough, the slender winger made his Dinamo debut.—
Jacob Whitehead,
New York Times,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Rural Cuba was profoundly impoverished and underdeveloped before and during the Batista era, and land ownership was scant among the working poor.—
Max Saltman,
CNN Money,
4 June 2026
-
So much for bringing the experience of art to culturally impoverished Butte.—
Jonathan Franzen,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
But despite Louisiana's ruby red political lean, the president's endorsement alone may not have been enough to ensure Cassidy's defeat - until the state changed its election rules.—
Eric McDaniel,
NPR,
30 May 2026
-
Preliminary evidence suggests that weight regained after stopping a GLP-1 treatment is more likely to come back as fat than as lean mass.—
Bethany Brookshire,
Scientific American,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Common travel regrets stem from preventable issues like poor planning, budget problems, and choosing the wrong companions.—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
3 June 2026
-
O’Farrell’s inclination for narratives propelled by brutal coincidence and fatally poor timing tenders a Hardy-esque vision of the world, one that emphasizes the rigid, often cruel limits of an individual’s jurisdiction over the course of their life.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
Vulture,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bony.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bony. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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