Noun
- 1. anchor, mainstay, keystone, backbone, linchpin, lynchpin, support
- usage: a central cohesive source of support and stability; "faith is his anchor"; "the keystone of campaign reform was the ban on soft money"; "he is the linchpin of this firm"
- 2. backbone, grit, guts, moxie, sand, gumption, fortitude
- usage: fortitude and determination; "he didn't have the guts to try it"
- 3. spinal column, vertebral column, spine, backbone, back, rachis, skeletal structure
- usage: the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord; "the fall broke his back"
- 4. spine, backbone, part, portion
- usage: the part of a book's cover that encloses the inner side of the book's pages and that faces outward when the book is shelved; "the title and author were printed on the spine of the book"
- 5. backbone, connection, connexion, connector, connecter, connective
- usage: the part of a network that connects other networks together; "the backbone is the part of a communication network that carries the heaviest traffic"
WordNet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University.
All rights reserved.Definition and meaning of backbone (Dictionary)