Library / English Dictionary

HOLLOW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A depression hollowed out of solid matter

Synonyms:

hole; hollow

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

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"):

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

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)

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small valley between mountains

Example:

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

Synonyms:

holler; hollow

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

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 cavity or space in something

Example:

hunger had caused the hollows in their cheeks

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

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)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking in substance or character

Example:

a hollow person

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Devoid of significance or force

Example:

vacuous comments

Synonyms:

empty; hollow; vacuous

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

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

Derivation:

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

As if echoing in a hollow space

Example:

the hollow sound of footsteps in the empty ballroom

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Not solid; having a space or gap or cavity

Example:

his face became gaunter and more hollow with each year

Classified under:

Adjectives

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)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Remove the interior of

Example:

hollow out a tree trunk

Synonyms:

core out; hollow; hollow out

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

empty (make void or empty of contents)

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

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)

hole (make holes in)

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Remove the inner part or the core of

Example:

the mining company wants to excavate the hillside

Synonyms:

dig; excavate; hollow

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The smooth muscle component of an organ, especially of a hollow organ or tubular structure.

(Muscle Layer, NCI Thesaurus)

“Why, dear me, it sounds quite hollow!” he remarked, looking up in surprise.

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

Four connected cavities (hollow spaces) in the brain.

(Murine Ventricles, Brain, NCI Thesaurus)

A hollow area in the upper portion of the tympanic cavity.

(Epitympanic Recess, NCI Thesaurus)

The next thing he demanded was one of the hollow iron pillars; by which he meant my pocket pistols.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

An involuntary muscular contraction involving a muscle of the abdomen or of a hollow organ within the abdomen.

(Abdominal Cramp, NCI Thesaurus)

And birds' lightweight, hollow bones break easily, accelerating the decay of the DNA within.

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

This rare cancer, which most often affects children, forms in soft tissue, mostly skeletal muscle tissue, and sometimes in hollow organs like the bladder or uterus.

(New Genes Found Responsible for Regulating Muscle Cells, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Techniques using equipment such as a hollow fiber apparatus or roller bottles for high volume maintenance or growth of animal, plant, or insect cells in vitro.

(Biotechnology, Mass Cell Culture, NCI Thesaurus)

The bladder is a hollow organ in your lower abdomen that stores urine.

(Bladder Cancer, NIH: National Cancer Institute)