backbone

Instead, straighten your civic backbone and push back in clear conscience.

She had been, he says, the backbone of their family and losing her shifted their entire emotional landscape.

She refused to participate in political bribery, which is the unspoken prerequisite backbone of this world.

With a backbone of steel, she matched her husband in intelligence, perseverance, and strength of spirit.

That timeline can serve as the backbone for the story our data tells.

Its backbone should be the study of biology and its substance should be the threshing out of the burning questions of our day.

He was Gascon to the backbone, and his tongue too often betrayed his most secret and his most transient thoughts.

I kept a stiff backbone for a while, but presently a futile rage against circumstances bubbled up and boiled over.

Isabel deigned no reply, and he took possession of a deep chair, settled himself on his backbone, and regarded her attentively.

Education, the "backbone" of cultural activities, is one of the most challenging current problems facing Virginia.