Boneless means without bones. When you buy boneless chicken at the grocery store, the bones have been removed so you can eat it more easily. A boneless fish fillet has had all its tiny bones taken out, making it much simpler to enjoy without worrying about choking.

The word appears most often when describing meat or fish, but it can describe anything that lacks bones or has had them removed. Sharks and rays, for example, are not truly boneless: their skeletons are made of cartilage (the same flexible material in your nose and ears) instead of bone.

Sometimes people use boneless playfully to describe feeling completely exhausted or relaxed, like collapsing boneless onto the couch after an especially tiring day. This figurative use captures that feeling when you're so worn out that your body feels like it has no structure left.