skeleton   (Sound)

The noun skeleton has 4 senses

• skeleton -- (something reduced to its minimal form; "the battalion was a mere skeleton of its former self"; "the bare skeleton of a novel")


• skeleton, skeleton in the closet, skeleton in the cupboard -- (a scandal that is kept secret; "there must be a skeleton somewhere in that family's closet")


• skeletal system, skeleton, frame, systema skeletale -- (the hard structure (bones and cartilages) that provides a frame for the body of an animal)


• skeleton, skeletal frame, frame, underframe -- (the internal supporting structure that gives an artifact its shape; "the building has a steel skeleton")