SINKHOLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sinkhole mean? 

• SINKHOLE (noun)
  The noun SINKHOLE has 1 sense:

1. a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof

  Familiarity information: SINKHOLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SINKHOLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

sink; sinkhole; swallow hole

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

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

 Context examples 

A new study using data from the joint NASA and the European Space Agency Cassini mission suggests the moon's surface dissolves in a process that's similar to the creation of sinkholes on Earth.

(The Mysterious 'Lakes' on Saturn's Moon Titan, NASA)

Scientists have recovered the first genetic data from an extinct bird in the Caribbean, thanks to the remarkably preserved bones of a Creighton's caracara in a flooded sinkhole on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas.

(Extinct Caribbean bird yields DNA after 2,500 years in watery grave, National Science Foundation)