tunnel

1 of 2

noun

tun·​nel ˈtə-nᵊl How to pronounce tunnel (audio)
1
a
: a covered passageway
specifically : a horizontal passageway through or under an obstruction
b
: a subterranean gallery (as in a mine)
c
: burrow
2
: a hollow conduit or recess : tube, well
tunnellike adjective

tunnel

2 of 2

verb

tunneled or tunnelled; tunneling or tunnelling ˈtən-liŋ How to pronounce tunnel (audio)
ˈtə-nᵊl-iŋ

intransitive verb

1
: to make or use a tunnel
2
physics : to pass through a potential barrier
electrons tunneling through an insulator between semiconductors

transitive verb

: to make a tunnel or similar opening through or under
also : to make (one's way) by or as if by making a tunnel
tunneler
ˈtən-lər How to pronounce tunnel (audio)
ˈtə-nᵊl-ər
noun

Examples of tunnel in a Sentence

Noun The train goes through a tunnel in the mountain. The moles dug tunnels in the yard. Verb Workers are tunneling through the hill. Insects had tunneled into the tree.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The war and the continuation of the war is the responsibility of Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization, which continues to hold and abuse the hostages, and which doesn’t use its tunnels to protect the innocent civilians of Gaza, but uses it to hide themselves and allow Palestinians to die. Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Mar. 2024 Added to the lack of communication was a seeming lack of concern for civilians as Hamas forces retreated to their tunnels. Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Mar. 2024 The first, staged in October 1943, saw POWs use a homemade, hollow gymnastics vaulting horse to shuttle prisoners and digging equipment to a tunnel site, with the horse used to cover the burrowing operation underneath. Jack Bantock, CNN, 9 Mar. 2024 Additionally, the 57-year-old has been critical of proposals to construct a water tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as well as Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s efforts to ask voters to approve another tax increase in 2026. Harriet Blair Rowan, The Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2024 Meanwhile, an effort has started to reroute about 1.6 miles of track off the bluff into a tunnel beneath Del Mar at a cost of more than $4 billion, with construction to be completed by 2035. Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2024 The dam and tunnel are scheduled to be removed later this year. Don Sweeney, Sacramento Bee, 4 Mar. 2024 Bugs Even insects get into the cleaning game: Bees and ants remove dead bodies from hives and tunnels – a behavior known as necrophoresis that is done to prevent the spread of disease. Matt Benoit, Discover Magazine, 1 Mar. 2024 Mulford said forging the three middle school-three junior high system wouldn't immediately solve McNair's crowding but provides light at the end of the tunnel. Al Gaspeny, arkansasonline.com, 1 Mar. 2024
Verb
Workers at the Encore site believed they weren’t allowed to stop tunneling for any reason, according to Merideth, two separate former employees who worked at the Encore jobsite, and notes from an OSHA investigator’s employee interviews. Jessica Mathews, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2024 But the exponential difficulty of reaching those locations would always rise even faster, making tunneling an unlikely proposition. Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024 Some beetles feed just underneath bark while others tunnel more deeply into heartwood. Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 11 Jan. 2024 Saw-Wai Hla With Hla et al.'s method, X-rays hit the sample and excite the core electrons, which then tunnel to the detector tip. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 31 May 2023 With enough disorder, Anderson concluded, a particle would never tunnel far. Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024 After 13 years or 17 years, depending on their brood, the cicadas will tunnel to the surface to reach maturity and engage in a monthlong, noisy search for a mate. Denise Chow, NBC News, 20 Jan. 2024 Kevin Bacon's family has taken steps to ensure the animal won't break out again, reinforcing the pig's pen with concrete below the ground to stop him from tunneling his way out, Rumbaugh said. Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 1 Nov. 2023 The Psyche asteroid offers scientists a rare opportunity to delve into a planet’s center without the need to tunnel to its core — a feat deemed exceedingly rare by experts in the field. Sabrina Malhi, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tunnel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English tonel cask, tun, from Anglo-French, from tone tun

First Known Use

Noun

1508, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Verb

1795, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of tunnel was in 1508

Dictionary Entries Near tunnel

Cite this Entry

“Tunnel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tunnel. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tunnel

1 of 2 noun
tun·​nel ˈtən-ᵊl How to pronounce tunnel (audio)
: a passage under the ground
tunnellike adjective

tunnel

2 of 2 verb
tunneled or tunnelled; tunneling or tunnelling
ˈtən-liŋ,
-ᵊl-iŋ
: to make a tunnel

Medical Definition

tunnel

noun
tun·​nel ˈtən-ᵊl How to pronounce tunnel (audio)
: a bodily channel see carpal tunnel
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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