bareboned

[ bair-bohnd ]

adjective

1. lean or spare, as a person.
2. emaciated; gaunt:

   bareboned victims of a terrible famine.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bareboned¹

1590–1600; bare ¹ + boned, from the earlier use bare-bones or bare-bone a lean person

Example Sentences

The best pieces are bareboned but sensuous, simultaneously playful and serene.

From Time Magazine Archive

M.P.s had plenty to worry about�a coal shortage, a meat shortage, the shock of rearmament on Britain's bareboned economy.

From Time Magazine Archive

The customer is set down in Rome's bareboned, modern Stazione Termini.

From Time Magazine Archive

So now he has slashed his staff to a bareboned 2,000, which touched off a protest march by 500 of the dismissed employees.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was standing in not a very happy mood, and leaning against the donkey's neck, when a butcher's boy came jogging along upon his shaggy and bareboned pony.

From Project Gutenberg