hollow out

phrasal verb

hollowed out; hollowing out; hollows out

1

: to remove the inside of (something) : to make an empty space in (something)

The kids were hollowing out pumpkins.

a hollowed-out log

2

: to form (something) by digging or cutting the inside of something

Workers hollowed out a tunnel through the mountain.

Examples of hollow out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Not only is this revered, iconic pillar of American greatness badly hobbled amidst safety crises, but now its senior executive ranks have been hollowed out, with the board urgently searching for a leadership reset amidst a lack of obvious successors. —Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 27 Mar. 2024

On the present course, in which Ukrainian ammunition and manpower needs are not met, Ukrainian units are likely to hollow out, making Russian breakthroughs a distinct possibility. —Dara Massicot, Foreign Affairs, 8 Mar. 2024

The country’s democratic institutions have been hollowed out. —John Hudson, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2024

More recently, the always fragmented and fractious political opposition has been hollowed out by arrests of many leading figures on grounds of anti-war agitation. —Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Mar. 2024

Perhaps most of all for the Biden administration, Ukraine is hollowing out the army of one of America’s biggest foes. —Thomas Gibbons-Neff, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024

The hollowing out of democratic institutions pushes India closer and closer to becoming a democracy only in name and an electoral autocracy in practice. —Ramachandra Guha, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024

Chicago, like many other cities in the US, has been struggling to fill empty offices after the pandemic hollowed out downtowns. —Shruti Date Singh, Fortune, 4 Mar. 2024

News organizations, crucial to a functioning society, are being hollowed out, if not outright dying. —Oliver Darcy, CNN, 28 Feb. 2024