Meaning & use
boner
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Meanings
nouncountablevulgarslang
A vulgar slang word for an erection of the penis.
Grammar: A crude word that is best avoided in polite or formal settings.
Teachers rarely say boner in class and use the correct medical term instead.
The word boner appears in crude jokes but would be out of place in an essay.
A health textbook would not use boner, since it is vulgar slang.
nouncountableinformalold-fashioned
A stupid and embarrassing mistake, especially one made in public.
Grammar: Often follows pull: pull a boner. This sense is now old-fashioned and rare.
Patterns
- pull a boner
- make a boner
Calling the new boss by the wrong name was a real boner.
The announcer pulled a boner by reading out the wrong score.
He still blushes at the boner he made at the interview.
Word forms
| plural | boners |
|---|
Common combinations
- pull a boner
- I pulled a boner by sending the email to the wrong person.
- a real boner
- Leaving the lights on all night was a real boner.
- make a boner
- He made a boner in the speech and forgot her name.
- an embarrassing boner
- It was an embarrassing boner that everyone remembered.
Synonyms and how they differ
- blunder
- Blunder is a general, neutral word for a serious mistake and is safe in any setting.
- gaffe
- Gaffe suggests a social slip or a careless remark in public, and sounds more polished than boner.
- howler
- Howler is a British word for an obviously silly error, often one that makes people laugh.
- slip-up
- Slip-up is a casual word for a small mistake, whereas boner suggests something more embarrassing.
Word family
- bone noun
- the hard material that forms the skeleton
- bony adjective
- very thin, with bones showing
- bonehead noun
- an informal word for a stupid person
- boneheaded adjective
- stupid or foolish
Commonly confused: boner or bonehead?
boner vs bonehead
A bonehead is a foolish person, while a boner in the old sense is the foolish mistake itself.
Practice
In the sentence 'The host pulled a boner by calling the winner the wrong name', what does boner most nearly mean?
Choose one answer.
In this older informal sense a boner is an embarrassing mistake. Pulled a boner means made a blunder, and none of the other options fits the context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “boner”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.