1 [C] the row of small bones that are connected together down the middle of the back
SYNSPINE
2 [sing.] the most important part of a system, an organization, etc. that gives it support and strength:
Agriculture forms the backbone of the rural economy.
3 [U] the strength of character that you need to do sth difficult:
He doesn't have the backbone to face the truth.
Rate this entry
About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for backbone is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is backbone a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, backbone is tagged as noun.
Does backbone appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — backbone appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.