backbone

Zimbabwe's mineral wealth is the backbone of its economy: the southern African country is among leading producers of platinum metals, chrome and lithium, much of it exported to China.

From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026

Much of their backbone consisted of soft tissue that rarely survives long enough to become fossilized, leaving scientists with an incomplete picture of how their necks functioned.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2026

You may resent your low- and unpaid work that has been the backbone of your family.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026

Drones similarly once felt like science fiction, and are now increasingly seen as the backbone of how cities will function, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

I could feel his backbone and his ribs, all tied together by stringy muscles.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Tanyka belongs to a broad group of vertebrates known as tetrapods, which includes all four-limbed animals with backbones such as reptiles, birds, mammals, and amphibians.

From Science Daily ● May 1, 2026

For decades, palaeontologists believed that the largest ocean predators were vertebrates with backbones such as fish and reptiles while invertebrates like octopuses and squid played supporting roles.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026

“If you look at the collection of companies that ultimately formed Lumen, the underlying technologies and backbones were never integrated,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026

Animals without a backbones evolved first, around 700 million years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

Sure, almost any old union would boost wages and straighten out some backbones here, but I know that even the most energetic and democratic unions bear careful watching by their members.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich