English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From skeleton +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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skeletal (plural skeletals)

  1. (paleontology, informal) Shorthand for skeletal diagram (a black-and-white drawing of a [usually extinct] animal’s skeleton to be used as a reference for paleoart)

Adjective

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skeletal (comparative more skeletal, superlative most skeletal)

  1. of, or relating to the skeleton
  2. haggard, cadaverous, emaciated or gaunt
  3. barebones, lacking elaboration
    • 1983 August 20, Penny Landau, “The Reality Around Us: Two Gay Plays”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 6, page 17:
      On the whole, Sidney Morris has given us sketchy characters that need more fine tuning than this production [] could give it. Only Holmberg seemed to dig deeply within himself to create a complete character from Morris' skeletal outline.

Derived terms

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