backbone
backbone Lexical Profile
backbone Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The chief support, foundation, or most vital component of a system, organization, or structure.
"Small family farms have long served as the economic backbone of this rural region."
The series of articulated vertebrae extending from the skull to the pelvis that encloses the spinal cord and provides the main structural support for the trunk in vertebrates.
"Fossilized remains of the ancient fish revealed a well-preserved backbone and fin structure."
Firmness of character, moral courage, or resolute determination in the face of opposition or difficulty.
"It took real backbone to stand up to the board of directors and report the accounting irregularities."
A high-capacity central transmission line or series of connections that carries major data traffic between smaller networks (in computing and telecommunications); the longest continuous chain of covalently bonded atoms in a polymer or complex molecule (in chemistry).
"Upgrading the university's fiber-optic backbone significantly increased internet speeds across all campus laboratories."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in Middle English around 1300 as a compound of 'back' and 'bone', both deriving from Old English ('bæc' and 'ban'). The figurative sense of strength of character and resolve emerged in the mid-19th century.