Entry Word: hole

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 a place in a surface allowing passage into or through a thing <Mark was beside himself after seeing that his little sister had punched holes in his homework>

Synonyms aperture, opening, orifice, perforation

Related Words chink, cleft, crack, cranny, crevice, cut, breach, break, fissure, gash, notch, rent, rift, rupture, slash, slit, split; gap, slot, space; exit, mouth, outlet, pore, vent; entrance, inlet, intake; pinprick, punch, puncture; armhole, buttonhole, knothole, peephole, pinhole, wormhole

Near Antonyms fill, filler, filling, patch, plug, seal, stopper; barrier, blockage, obstacle, obstruction

2 a sunken area forming a separate space <Ann dug a hole big enough to plant the tree>

Synonyms cavity, concavity, dent, depression, dint, hollow, indentation, pit, recess

Related Words burrow, cave, cavern, ditch, excavation, furrow, groove, trench, trough; basin, bowl, valley; alcove, cleft, niche, nook, opening, recess, socket; alveolus, dimple, gouge, notch, impression, pocket; chuckhole, crater, posthole, pothole, sinkhole, wallow, waterhole, well; abyss, chasm, gulf, vacuity, vacuum, void

Near Antonyms hill, mound, projection, rise; bump, lump, pimple, swell, swelling, tumor

Antonyms bulge, convexity, protrusion, protuberance

3 a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape <Bill dug himself into a hole by promising to be in two places at the same time> — see predicament
4 a dirty or messy place <when people see my room, they often ask, “How can you live in this hole?”> — see pigpen
5 an open space in a barrier (as a wall or hedge) <found a hole in the chain-link fence big enough to squeeze through> — see gap 1
6 the shelter or resting place of a wild animal <watched the snake slither into its hole> — see den 1