Skeletonlike

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Resembling the framework of bones through thinness or fragility
2. Exhibiting an emaciated build that gives an impression of skeletal features
3. Having the appearance of a skeleton due to extreme thinness or frailty

Etymology: "Skeletonlike" is a plain compound: the noun "skeleton" with the suffix "-like," which attaches to nouns to mean "resembling" or "having the appearance of" the thing named. Put together, it describes something that looks like a skeleton, which in everyday use usually means a body so thin that the bones seem to show through the skin. "Skeleton" itself comes from Greek "skeletos," meaning "dried up" or "withered," originally used of a dried body. That sense of dryness and bare structure carries straight into the adjective, so the word describes a figure reduced to its frame. The suffix "-like" is an old and productive English element, and it is the reason the word can be coined freely: speakers can attach it to almost any noun to describe a resemblance, which is why many such adjectives appear in ordinary writing without ever being listed in older dictionaries.

Synonyms: bony, gaunt, spindly

Antonyms: plump, robust, stout