to the bone

English

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

to the bone

  1. (idiomatic) Completely, totally.
    Synonyms: to the core; see also Thesaurus:to the full
    The winter wind was so bitter it chilled me to the bone.
    After walking home in the rain, she was soaked to the bone.
    I'm being worked to the bone to meet deadlines before the holiday rush.
    • 1982, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, “Bad to the Bone”, in Bad to the Bone:
      She could tell right away / That I was bad to the bone
    • 1994, Green Day, “Basket Case”, in Dookie:
      I am one of those melodramatic fools / Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it
    • 2004, George Michael, “My Mother Had a Brother”, in Patience:
      I'm bad to the bone, I'm just a little torn / I'm makin' so much love
    • 2023 September 30, Hannah Murphy, quoting Shelley Zalis, “The wildest job in Silicon Valley”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 17:
      She's fun, they say. A friend, a force. “Good to the bone,” says Shelley Zalis, a founder of gender equality group The Female Quotient, who has been close to Yaccarino for years.

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