bones 1 of 2

plural of bone
1
as in die
a small cube marked on each side with one to six spots and usually played in pairs in various games the pirates decided their captives' fate with a toss of the bones

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2
as in heart
the seat of one's deepest thoughts and emotions I could feel in my bones that I had just met my future wife

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3
as in corpse
a dead body requested that his bones be buried in the country of his birth

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bones

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of bone

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bones
Noun
Authorities said the remains included bones believed to belong to four newborns and the decomposing body of a fifth. Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 29 July 2026 The physical pain — broken bones and surgeries and bullets and getting beat up and cut — has never really bothered me. Rachel Desantis, PEOPLE, 28 July 2026 Paleontologist Susan Hendrickson discovered three huge bones jutting out of a cliff on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. USA Today, 28 July 2026 View gallery - 5 images Humanoids and humans are increasingly sharing factory floors, but one is made of metal and the other of flesh and bones, a mismatch that rarely ends well for us in a collision. New Atlas, 27 July 2026 Dial back these elements and the bones of these songs become more transparent. Quentin Thane Singer, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026 While its exterior bones are quite impressive, its interiors are the real showstopper here. Mae Hamilton, Travel + Leisure, 25 July 2026 Children point with excitement while parents contemplate the creature the massive bones once belonged to. ABC News, 22 July 2026 There is nothing quite like being (nearly) alone among the bones of a dead city. Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 22 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bones
Noun
  • If your body has been asking you in a few ways to slow down (like feeling a cough coming on, or a tiredness that won’t shake off), stop fighting against what your body or heart is trying to tell you.
    Meghan Rose, Glamour, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Hürrem takes inspiration from the 16th‑century romance between Ottoman ruler Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and his chief consort Roxelana, who became Hürrem Sultan upon winning his heart.
    Lilian Raji, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • Frattolin has pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of concealment of a human corpse.
    Brittany Miller, FOXNews.com, 29 July 2026
  • The village’s daily rhythms are ordered by the passing trains—until a train arrives from Pakistan loaded with the corpses of Sikh refugees, and the community is made to cremate the dead.
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 July 2026
Verb
  • When the Supreme Court guts federal voting protections, every state has to decide whether to fill that void or exploit it.
    Anthony G. Brown, Baltimore Sun, 26 June 2026
  • What most of us know is a relationship that goes sour, and the one that guts you the most is a love that goes wrong.
    Stuart Miller, Oc Register, 7 May 2026
Noun
  • When Mukanoheli awoke hours later, her hand immediately went to her belly.
    Fatma Tanis, NPR, 4 Aug. 2026
  • This plush captures its jolly mood with a big smile and a grinning sun across its belly (complete with sunglasses).
    Sian Babish, PEOPLE, 3 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • Public meetings were surrounded by people waving signs with photos of bloody bear carcasses.
    Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Von Lyskowski and his workers sprayed some trees with nematodes, a parasitic worm that kills caterpillars and reproduces inside their carcasses.
    Ben Crair, New Yorker, 31 July 2026
Verb
  • Regardless, men behaving in a repulsed or shocked way when a man dresses feminine or in women’s clothing is homophobic.
    Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 22 July 2026
  • Case in point, the Organic Cotton Relaxed Oxford Shirt, which stylist Nicole Chavez, who dresses Witherspoon, handpicked in her cool-girl summer capsule.
    Olivia Cigliano, InStyle, 20 July 2026
Noun
  • That process happens anywhere in the world — including in the human gut, where microbes eat indigestible foods, and create a byproduct medical doctors might describe as flatulence.
    Denise Hruby, Miami Herald, 31 July 2026
  • The ensemble eking out hope in the Terrordome includes Angela McBride (Suzette Llewellyn), a mother of two who goes on a violent rampage of justice-seeking after a gut-wrenching loss.
    Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 30 July 2026
Verb
  • Weakened by kidney failure, Karam is unable to work and is tethered 12 hours a day to the machine that cleans the toxins from his blood.
    Laura Tillman, Hartford Courant, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Dawn Dishwashing Liquid Best soap in the world—cleans dishes and windows, pretreats laundry, and unclogs toilets.
    Chris Kelly, New Yorker, 28 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Bones.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bones. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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