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# backbone

«backbone» in Mova's school dictionary: **the line of bones down the middle of your back, also…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a backbone, backbones)

### meaning for a pupil

1) The backbone is the line of bones down the middle of your back, also called the spine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#m1)

2) The backbone of something is its most important part, which holds the rest up. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#m2)

3) Having backbone means being brave and strong enough to do the right thing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science, animals with a backbone are vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals); animals without one are invertebrates (insects, worms, jellyfish). In health: good posture protects your backbone. Phrases: the backbone of the team, have the backbone to, show some backbone.

### examples

- Your backbone is made of small bones called vertebrae. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x1)
- A fish has a backbone, but a worm does not. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x2)
- Sit up straight to look after your backbone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x3)
- Farmers are the backbone of the country. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x4)
- It takes backbone to stand up to a bully. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x5)
- The goalkeeper is the backbone of our team. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x6)
- Insects are animals without a backbone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x7)
- Feel the bumps of your backbone down your back. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/#x8)

### note

Countable. Same as spine. Science trap: a jellyfish and a spider have no backbone; a snake has a very long one. «Spineless» means without a backbone, or, about people, not brave.

### In the corpora

- [Herons, mudskippers and other animals with backbones each have just one heart.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/11-swamps-marshes-mangroves-and-bogs/12/)
- [A tortoise's shell is part of its skeleton, joined to its ribs and backbone, so it can never leave it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/10/)
- [Imagine one piece of a snake's backbone bigger than your fist.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/383-giant-reptiles-of-the-past-titanoboa-sarcosuchus-deinosuchus-and-giant-tortoises/0/)
- [Insects and spiders have no backbone; they have a hard outer skeleton.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/24-animal-groups/15/)
- [Starfish and jellyfish are not fish, because they have no backbone.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/29-classifying-unusual-animals/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «backbone» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/backbone/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.