bare bones

plural noun

1. the irreducible minimum; the most essential components:

   Reduce this report to its bare bones. There is nothing left of the town but the bare bones—a couple of stores, a church, and a few houses.

bare-bones

adjective

1. basic or simple; no-frills

Other Words From

• bare-bones adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bare bones¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Idioms and Phrases

The mere essentials or plain, unadorned framework of something, as in This outline gives just the bare bones of the story; details will come later . This phrase transfers the naked skeleton of a body to figurative use. [c. 1900]