"make no bones about" meaning in English

See make no bones about in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-make no bones about.ogg [Australia] Forms: makes no bones about [present, singular, third-person], making no bones about [participle, present], made no bones about [participle, past], made no bones about [past]
Etymology: In reference to ‘finding bones’ in a matter, itself a reference to finding bones in soup. Head templates: {{en-verb|make<,,made> no bones about}} make no bones about (third-person singular simple present makes no bones about, present participle making no bones about, simple past and past participle made no bones about)
  1. (idiomatic) To say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: have a bone to pick, unflinching, unhesitating, unsparing Translations (to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation): nicht viel Aufhebens machen um (German), kein Aufheben machen von (German), frei heraus sagen (German), keine Umschweife machen (German), έξω απ' τα δόντια (éxo ap' ta dóntia) (Greek)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for make no bones about meaning in English (4.1kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "In reference to ‘finding bones’ in a matter, itself a reference to finding bones in soup.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> no bones about"
      },
      "expansion": "make no bones about (third-person singular simple present makes no bones about, present participle making no bones about, simple past and past participle made no bones about)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English negative polarity items",
          "parents": [
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            "Terms by semantic function"
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          "source": "w"
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1900, Andrew Lang, “The Ogre,”, in The Grey Fairy Book",
          "text": "[M]aking no bones about the matter, he told Antonio what a fool he had been.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 21",
          "text": "‘I guess you don’t think much of a woman on a ship do you?’ ‘Not to make any bones about it, she’s usually a cock-eyed pest.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 August 25, Kate Connolly, Amelia Hill, “Rattles fires parting shot at Brit Art bratpack”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "One of the Berlin Philharmonic's musicians, horn player Fergus McWilliam from Scotland, said: 'He's clearly seeing it as his life's work, he's made no bones about that. There is a heightened sense of anticipation among the musicians.'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 March 13, Denny Lee, “Looking for Mr. Right Now”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-11-19",
          "text": "Vince, a natty 23-year-old financial analyst from Hoboken, made no bones about his agenda. \"I love it here, it's so whorish,\" he said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_no_bones_about-en-verb-wd9XxSNM",
      "links": [
        [
          "hesitation",
          "hesitation"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "have a bone to pick"
        },
        {
          "word": "unflinching"
        },
        {
          "word": "unhesitating"
        },
        {
          "word": "unsparing"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
          "word": "nicht viel Aufhebens machen um"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
          "word": "kein Aufheben machen von"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
          "word": "frei heraus sagen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
          "word": "keine Umschweife machen"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "éxo ap' ta dóntia",
          "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
          "word": "έξω απ' τα δόντια"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-make no bones about.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/En-au-make_no_bones_about.ogg/En-au-make_no_bones_about.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/En-au-make_no_bones_about.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make no bones about"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "In reference to ‘finding bones’ in a matter, itself a reference to finding bones in soup.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made no bones about",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> no bones about"
      },
      "expansion": "make no bones about (third-person singular simple present makes no bones about, present participle making no bones about, simple past and past participle made no bones about)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "have a bone to pick"
    },
    {
      "word": "unflinching"
    },
    {
      "word": "unhesitating"
    },
    {
      "word": "unsparing"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English negative polarity items",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1900, Andrew Lang, “The Ogre,”, in The Grey Fairy Book",
          "text": "[M]aking no bones about the matter, he told Antonio what a fool he had been.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 21",
          "text": "‘I guess you don’t think much of a woman on a ship do you?’ ‘Not to make any bones about it, she’s usually a cock-eyed pest.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 August 25, Kate Connolly, Amelia Hill, “Rattles fires parting shot at Brit Art bratpack”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "One of the Berlin Philharmonic's musicians, horn player Fergus McWilliam from Scotland, said: 'He's clearly seeing it as his life's work, he's made no bones about that. There is a heightened sense of anticipation among the musicians.'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 March 13, Denny Lee, “Looking for Mr. Right Now”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-11-19",
          "text": "Vince, a natty 23-year-old financial analyst from Hoboken, made no bones about his agenda. \"I love it here, it's so whorish,\" he said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "hesitation",
          "hesitation"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-make no bones about.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1a/En-au-make_no_bones_about.ogg/En-au-make_no_bones_about.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/En-au-make_no_bones_about.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
      "word": "nicht viel Aufhebens machen um"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
      "word": "kein Aufheben machen von"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
      "word": "frei heraus sagen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
      "word": "keine Umschweife machen"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "éxo ap' ta dóntia",
      "sense": "to say, do, or indicate something clearly and without hesitation",
      "word": "έξω απ' τα δόντια"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make no bones about"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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