bare bones

See also: barebones, and bare-bones

English

Etymology

By metaphor with the skeleton versus the whole body including the flesh.

Noun

bare bones pl (plural only)

1. The essential elements of something; the minimum viable set of elements; especially when they are described without going into detail.

   He had only been taught the bare bones of the system, but carried on regardless.

   • 1982 April 10, Michael Bronski, “We Are How We Cook”, in Gay Community News, page 7:

     The bare bones of a cookbook are its recipes, but as a genre it is so elastic and malleable that it can contain a range of other purposes and dimensions.

Related terms

• bare-boned

See also

• skeleton (essentials)
• skeletonized