skeletal

• sceletal

From skeleton +‎ -al.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛl.ɪ.təl/, /skəˈliː.təl/, [ˈskɛl.ɪ.tl̩], [skəˈliː.tl̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛl.ə.təl/, [ˈskɛl.ə.ɾəl], [ˈskɛl.ə.ɾl̩]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈskel.ə.təl/, /skəˈliː.təl/, [ˈskel.ə.ɾəl], [ˈskəˈliː.ɾəl]

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)

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.

• lakelets