Skeletonises

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Strips something down to its essential framework ; cuts away flesh so only the bones of a body remain ; sketches out a rough, minimal outline of a plan or work
2. Reduces a thing to its bare structure ; removes the soft tissue from a carcass, leaving the skeleton exposed ; draws a simple, sparse framework of an idea
3. Pares something back to its basic bones ; strips the flesh from a corpse until only the skeleton is left ; presents a sketchy, abridged version of a larger subject

Etymology: "Skeletonises" is the third-person singular present form of "skeletonise", so the story belongs to the verb. "Skeletonise" is built from "skeleton" plus the verb-forming suffix "-ise", which turns a noun into an action: to skeletonise something is to reduce it to its bare framework. The noun "skeleton" itself comes from Greek "skeletos", meaning "dried up" or "withered", from a verb meaning "to dry up", and it was used for a dried body or the bony framework of a living one. The verb's sense has widened well beyond anatomy. Where it once meant stripping flesh from bones, it now describes any process that leaves only the essential structure of something: a map reduced to its main roads, a plan trimmed to its key points, or a building or vehicle stripped down to its frame. The sense of removing everything superfluous is what most people encounter today.

Synonyms: skeletonizes, strip, gut

Antonyms: fill out, flesh out