1
a
b
: the substance of the spinal cord
2
a
: the choicest of food
b
: the seat of animal vigor
c
: the inmost, best, or essential part : core
personal liberty is the marrow of the American tradition—
Clinton Rossiter
Clinton Rossiter3
chiefly British
: vegetable marrow
chiefly Scotland
: one of a pair
Phrases
to the marrow
: very deeply : very much : completely and thoroughly
I was wet and chilled to the marrow, till I felt more dead than alive.—Jack London
Jack LondonExamples of marrow in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Peter Ross, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2025
Others had bones chewed up by predators that would have crushed bones to get to various salts and marrow, similar to what modern hyenas do.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 27 Nov. 2024
The marrow, like all marrow, is obscene in its richness; the birria, like the best birria, has a dark, curvaceous intensity.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2024
That approach required taking bone marrow cells out of the body, making a disabling cut in a particular gene that regulates fetal hemoglobin, treating the patient with chemotherapy to make room in the marrow, and then reinfusing the edited cells.
—Francis Collins, WIRED, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for marrow 
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Noun
The bones of their shins, cracked for marrow, were then arranged around the perimeter of Structure 10—as if in celebration of wealth, abundance and appetite.
—Peter Ross, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2025
Others had bones chewed up by predators that would have crushed bones to get to various salts and marrow, similar to what modern hyenas do.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 27 Nov. 2024
The marrow, like all marrow, is obscene in its richness; the birria, like the best birria, has a dark, curvaceous intensity.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2024
That approach required taking bone marrow cells out of the body, making a disabling cut in a particular gene that regulates fetal hemoglobin, treating the patient with chemotherapy to make room in the marrow, and then reinfusing the edited cells.
—Francis Collins, WIRED, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for marrow
Dictionary Entries Near marrow
Cite this Entry
“Marrow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marrow. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
marrow
noun
mar·row
ˈmar-(ˌ)ō, -ə(-w) 
1
2
: the substance of the spinal cord
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