Hone

What does ‘Hone’ mean?

Related forms: My students watch my videos to hone their listening skills.

To sharpen, to cause a blade or cutting edge to be sharp and cut well, to make more efficient, to make work better. It is most usually used figuratively for abilities, techniques or skills.

“the man honed the knife with a whetstone”.
“Executives are constantly honing their business abilities”.
“Hone down is a phrasal verb meaning to improve slowly and steadily, to gradually make smaller and more efficient, or sharp”.
“Example: We honed our technique down until it was perfect”.
“The recession made it necessary to hone down our staff”.
“Hone in (on) is a phrasal verb meaning to move towards a target, to get closer to an ohjective, to direct one's attention towards a goal. Hone in is intransitive (no direct object). Hone in on is transitive (takes a direct object)”.
“Example: A long time passed before they honed in”.
“The Police are starting to hone in on computer fraud”.
“Honed is an adjective meaning sharpened”.
“Example: His well honed abilities that gave him an unfair advantage”.
“A well honed knife makes cutting easy”.

As a noun a hone is a fine whetstone that is used to put a very sharp cutting edge on a blade.

Watch: ‘Hone’ explained

Video transcript

H is for hone. To sharpen. To make sharp. You have a knife and you want it to cut, you hone it, you sharpen it. OK. To hone, to sharpen. You could also hone your skills and abilities. Increase them, make them sharper. Hone. H is for hone.

What does ‘Hone’ mean?

Watch: ‘Hone’ explained

More from the Vocabulary A–Z

Browse in order

What does ‘Hone’ mean? (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Watch: ‘Hone’ explained (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

More from the Vocabulary A–Z

Browse in order

What does ‘Hone’ mean?

Watch: ‘Hone’ explained