Meaning & use
bone idol
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableinformalBritishslang
A very lazy person who avoids work or effort.
Grammar: Countable noun: you can say 'a bone idol' or 'two bone idols'.
Patterns
- a bone idol
- such a bone idol
He never helps with the housework—he's a real bone idol.
Don't be such a bone idol; get up and do something!
She called her brother a bone idol because he spent all day on the sofa.
Word forms
| plural | bone idols |
|---|
Common combinations
- a real bone idol
- My cousin is a real bone idol; he hasn't worked in years.
- such a bone idol
- You're such a bone idol—you haven't lifted a finger all day.
- call someone a bone idol
- She called him a bone idol after he refused to help.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lazybones
- Lazybones is a more affectionate, playful term for a lazy person, whereas bone idol is more critical and slangy.
- idler
- Idler is a formal word for someone who avoids work; bone idol is informal and mainly British.
- slacker
- Slacker is common in American English and means a lazy person; bone idol is the British slang equivalent.
Opposites
Commonly confused: bone idol or bone idle?
bone idol vs bone idle
This is the adjective phrase meaning 'extremely lazy', as in 'He's bone idle.' The noun 'bone idol' refers to the person.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'bone idol' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 correctly uses 'bone idol' as a countable noun for a lazy person. Option 1 uses it as a verb, which is wrong. Option 2 uses it as a verb phrase, which is not correct. Option 3 confuses it with a literal bone, which is not the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bone idol”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.