skin

/skɪn/

noun 5verb 5

Collocations

(noun.) covering of a human/animal body

ADJ

raw, tender

My new shoes rubbed my heels and left the skin tender and sore.

blotchy

puffy

After crying, she looked in the mirror and noticed her puffy skin around the eyes.

blistered | hairy | hairless | chilled, cold, cool | facial

bare, naked

She exposed her naked skin to the warm sun at the beach.

loose

The old dog's loose skin hung down as he walked slowly across the yard.

armoured, scaly

A crocodile has thick, scaly skin that protects it from predators in the water.

dead

When you scratch your arm, the flakes falling off are actually dead skin.

VERB + SKIN

break, burn, damage, irritate | protect | nourish, soothe

shed

The old paint began to shed from the skin of the wooden fence.

SKIN + VERB

glisten, glow

After spending the day at the beach, his skin glowed with a healthy tan.

age

His skin aged noticeably after years of working outdoors without protection.

hang, sag

blister

After wearing those new shoes all day, my heels began to blister and my skin felt raw.

PHRASES

skin and bone

After weeks of illness, my grandfather became so thin he was just skin and bone.

(noun.) skin of an animal that has been removed

ADJ

animal | crocodile, goat, leopard, sheep (also sheepskin), etc.

VERB + SKIN

cure, tan

(noun.) covering of some fruits/ vegetables

ADJ

banana, onion, potato, etc.

VERB + SKIN

peel off, remove burn, peel

crawl, prickle, tingle

When she heard the scary noise at midnight, her skin began to prickle with fear.

SKIN + NOUN

contact

The nurse warned that direct skin contact with the infected patient could spread the disease.

PREP

against the/your ~

I felt the cold water against my skin as I jumped into the pool.

beneath the/your ~

There's a lot of anger beneath the skin of our quiet community.

in the/your ~

A severe sunburn can cause painful blisters to form in your skin.

on the/your ~

She noticed a small rash on her skin after wearing the new sweater.

through the/your ~

You could see the blue veins running through her skin on the back of her hand.

under the/your ~

The doctor felt under her skin to check if the bump was serious.

Definitions

noun

The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.

He is so disgusting he makes my skin crawl.

Her skin is pale like chicken skin, after you have peel[ed] all the feathers.

The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant.

The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc.

A congealed layer on the surface of a liquid.

In order to get to the rest of the paint in the can, you′ll have to remove the skin floating on top of it.

Do you eat the skin on custard?

A set of resources that modifies the appearance and/or layout of the graphical user interface of a computer program.

You can use this skin to change how the browser looks.

verb

To injure the skin of.

He fell off his bike and skinned his knee on the concrete.

To remove the skin and/or fur of an animal or a human.

To high five.

To apply a skin to (a computer program).

Can I skin the application to put the picture of my cat on it?

To use tricks to go past a defender.

The Russian, sometimes out of sorts in recent weeks, was seeing plenty of the ball on the left-hand side up against Hunt, a 20-year-old right-back making his first Huddersfield start. Arshavin skinned the youngster at the first opportunity and crossed for Bendtner, who could not direct his close-range effort on target.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — body covering of a living animal

noun — a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of

tegument
cutis

noun — the rind of a fruit or vegetable

peel

noun — a person whose head is bald or shaved

baldhead
baldpate
baldy
skinhead

noun — a member of any of several British or American groups consis

skinhead

verb — strip the skin off

verb — remove the bark of a tree

bark

verb — bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of

scrape

verb — climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

there's more than one way to skin a cat

A problem generally has more than one solution; there is more than one way to achieve a goal.

At any rate, thought I, there's more than one way to skin a cat, as a butcher would say.

by the skin of one's teeth

Barely; closely; by a narrow margin; with nothing to spare.

I passed the test by the skin of my teeth.

no skin off one's back

No harm to one.

If he wants to make a mess in his own room, it's no skin off my back.

make someone's skin crawl

To frighten or disgust.

The sound of fingernails on a chalkboard just makes my skin crawl.

beauty is only skin deep

A person's character matters more than their appearance.

"Handsome those that handsome do say I; beauty is only skin deep; it is the principle of the heart I consider.

Example Bank

He is so disgusting he makes my skin crawl.

Wiktionary

Her skin is pale like chicken skin, after you have peel[ed] all the feathers.

Wiktionary

In order to get to the rest of the paint in the can, you′ll have to remove the skin floating on top of it.

Wiktionary

He fell off his bike and skinned his knee on the concrete.

Wiktionary

Can I skin the application to put the picture of my cat on it?

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, skin is marked as colloquial, UK. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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