knucklebones
noun
Form of knucklebone , plural of knucklebone.
Simple meaning
A game in which jackstones are thrown and picked up in different groups between bounces of a small rubber ball.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nuhkuhlbohnzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnʌkəlboʊnz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A children's game, originally played with the knucklebones of sheep, in which small objects are picked up, moved, thrown, and caught according to various rules.
A game in which jackstones are thrown and picked up in various groups between bounces of a small rubber ball
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: A children's game, originally played with the knucklebones of sheep, in which small objects are picked up, moved, thrown, and caught according to various rules.
Used this way, knucklebones is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: children's game
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.