Meaning of close to the bone | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Penetrating and relatable, to the point of causing discomfort.
   usually
2. Destitute.

Examples

“The author now brings economics to the personal level, asking and pondering these uneasy, but close-to-the-bone questions: Are we economic people or self-developing persons? Should we look to the proletariat or to all those who love life? Are we suffering from exploitation or from negative symbiosis?”

“So it’s morally complex and sometimes uncomfortably close to the bone, but also lushly bawdy and funny, and packaged together with an astonishing degree of cinematic brio by first-time writer-director Marielle Heller.”

“First came the plague, then the flood, and now the fire. This has been a biblical summer, one where the doomsday warnings of climate scientists have felt increasingly close to the bone.”

“We've lived close to the bone and saved every cent we could, and there's no undisputed claim now that we can't cash…”

CEFR level