HOLLOW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hollow mean? 

• HOLLOW (noun)
  The noun HOLLOW has 3 senses:

1. a cavity or space in something

2. a small valley between mountains

3. a depression hollowed out of solid matter

  Familiarity information: HOLLOW used as a noun is uncommon.

• HOLLOW (adjective)
  The adjective HOLLOW has 4 senses:

1. not solid; having a space or gap or cavity

2. as if echoing in a hollow space

3. devoid of significance or force

4. lacking in substance or character

  Familiarity information: HOLLOW used as an adjective is uncommon.

• HOLLOW (verb)
  The verb HOLLOW has 2 senses:

1. remove the inner part or the core of

2. remove the interior of

  Familiarity information: HOLLOW used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOLLOW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cavity or space in something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Context example:

hunger had caused the hollows in their cheeks

Hypernyms ("hollow" is a kind of...):

cavity; enclosed space (space that is surrounded by something)

Derivation:

hollow (not solid; having a space or gap or cavity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small valley between mountains

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

holler; hollow

Context example:

he built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Appalachians

Hypernyms ("hollow" is a kind of...):

vale; valley (a long depression in the surface of the land that usually contains a river)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hollow"):

dell; dingle (a small wooded hollow)

Derivation:

hollow (not solid; having a space or gap or cavity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A depression hollowed out of solid matter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

hole; hollow

Hypernyms ("hollow" is a kind of...):

depression; natural depression (a sunken or depressed geological formation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hollow"):

gopher hole (a hole in the ground made by gophers)

kettle; kettle hole ((geology) a hollow (typically filled by a lake) that results from the melting of a mass of ice trapped in glacial deposits)

cavity; pit (a sizeable hole (usually in the ground))

chuckhole; pothole (a pit or hole produced by wear or weathering (especially in a road surface))

rabbit burrow; rabbit hole (a hole in the ground as a nest made by wild rabbits)

wormhole (hole made by a burrowing worm)

burrow; tunnel (a hole made by an animal, usually for shelter)

Derivation:

hollow (remove the interior of)

hollow (remove the inner part or the core of)

hollow (not solid; having a space or gap or cavity)

• HOLLOW (adjective)

Comparative: hollower   
Superlative: hollowest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not solid; having a space or gap or cavity

Context example:

his face became gaunter and more hollow with each year

Similar:

cavernous (being or suggesting a cavern)

deep-set; recessed; sunken (having a sunken area)

fistular; fistulate; fistulous (hollow and tube-shaped like a reed)

cannular; tube-shaped; tubelike; tubular; vasiform (constituting a tube; having hollow tubes (as for the passage of fluids))

Also:

empty (holding or containing nothing)

Attribute:

solidity (state of having the interior filled with matter)

Antonym:

solid (entirely of one substance with no holes inside)

Derivation:

hollow (a depression hollowed out of solid matter)

hollow (a small valley between mountains)

hollow (a cavity or space in something)

hollowness (the state of being hollow: having an empty space within)

Sense 2

Meaning:

As if echoing in a hollow space

Context example:

the hollow sound of footsteps in the empty ballroom

Similar:

reverberant (having a tendency to reverberate or be repeatedly reflected)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Devoid of significance or force

Synonyms:

empty; hollow; vacuous

Context example:

vacuous comments

Similar:

meaningless; nonmeaningful (having no meaning or direction or purpose)

Derivation:

hollowness (the quality of not being open or truthful; deceitful or hypocritical)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Lacking in substance or character

Context example:

a hollow person

Similar:

insubstantial; unreal; unsubstantial (lacking material form or substance; unreal)

• HOLLOW (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hollow    ... he / she / it hollows   
Past simple: hollowed   
Past participle: hollowed   
-ing form: hollowing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Remove the inner part or the core of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

dig; excavate; hollow

Context example:

the mining company wants to excavate the hillside

Hypernyms (to "hollow" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hollow"):

drive (excavate horizontally)

ditch; trench (cut a trench in, as for drainage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

hollow (a depression hollowed out of solid matter)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Remove the interior of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

core out; hollow; hollow out

Context example:

hollow out a tree trunk

Hypernyms (to "hollow" is one way to...):

empty (make void or empty of contents)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hollow"):

hole (make holes in)

core (remove the core or center from)

excavate (form by hollowing)

dig; dig out (create by digging)

cave; undermine (hollow out as if making a cave or opening)

cavern; cavern out (hollow out as if making a cavern)

scoop out (hollow out with a scoop)

draw in; suck in (draw in as if by suction)

scallop; scollop (form scallops in)

gouge; rout (make a groove in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They hollow the trees

Derivation:

hollow (a depression hollowed out of solid matter)

 Context examples 

The removal of a previously inserted tube from a hollow organ or passageway, often from the airway.

(Extubation, NCI Thesaurus)

Straker had led out the horse to a hollow where his light would be invisible.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Came Saturday and its hollow victory at three o'clock.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The esophagus is a hollow tube that carries food and liquids from your throat to your stomach.

(Esophageal Cancer, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

A type of paranasal sinus (a hollow space in the bones around the nose).

(Ethmoid sinus, NCI Dictionary)

Roughly pyramidal in shape and hollowed out, I perceive.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When he was half-way out, the Ghost took a long roll to windward and back again into the hollow between two seas.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Hollow, cylindrical structures, with a diameter usually less than 5 nanometers.

(Nanotube, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

He paused and went on in a hollow voice:—"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be done!"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Nanoscale hollow polymeric vessels that have the potential to be utilized to selectively deliver hydrophobic drugs to specific sites within individual cells.

(Nanocontainer, NCI Thesaurus)