as in gaunt
suffering extreme weight loss as a result of hunger or disease
the stray kitten's skeletal body was pitiful to look at
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Recent Examples of skeletal
When her skeletal remains were discovered in February 2023, investigators determined, based on the fact that no clothing fragments were found near her remains, that Morales’s body had been left there naked.
—
Mason Leath, ABC News, 8 May 2026
Even with a visible chunk of brain, a missing nose, and a skeletal hand, Spear is still just a man trying to survive in a harsh environment where cruelty and slavery are the norm.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 4 May 2026
The digital portrait was created using artificial intelligence and photo-editing techniques designed to translate skeletal and archaeological data into a realistic human likeness.
—CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
Pregnant and nursing women often need more to support fetal skeletal development.
—Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for skeletal
Mason Leath, ABC News, 8 May 2026
Even with a visible chunk of brain, a missing nose, and a skeletal hand, Spear is still just a man trying to survive in a harsh environment where cruelty and slavery are the norm.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 4 May 2026
The digital portrait was created using artificial intelligence and photo-editing techniques designed to translate skeletal and archaeological data into a realistic human likeness.
—CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
Pregnant and nursing women often need more to support fetal skeletal development.
—Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for skeletal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for skeletal
Adjective
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When supermodels ruled the runway, low-rise pants hugged our hips, everyone smoked cigarettes, grunge was a music genre and an aesthetic, and looking scrawny and gaunt was considered attractive.—
Phaedra Trethan,
USA Today,
30 Apr. 2026
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In late-stage chronic wasting disease, deer often appear emaciated and gaunt, Labonte said.—
Stephen Underwood,
Hartford Courant,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Rocking back and forth nervously during a television appearance, a haggard-looking Diaz-Canel acknowledged the same talks, which his government had denied were taking place just days before.—
Patrick Oppmann,
CNN Money,
22 Mar. 2026
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Wrexham, meanwhile, was near the bottom, struggling in England’s lowest division under a haggard fan-ownership group keeping it on life support.—
Justin Birnbaum,
Sportico.com,
6 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Skeletal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/skeletal. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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