rabbit hole

noun

: a complexly bizarre or difficult state or situation conceived of as a hole into which one falls or descends

I wanted to show this woman descending into the rabbit hole: this loss of self, becoming a servant to her job and to the work.

—Jessica Chastain

especially : one in which the pursuit of something (such as an answer or solution) leads to other questions, problems, or pursuits

… I went around telling all my friends about the samurai colony that once existed in Northern California. No one had ever heard of it. And, up until a few days before, deep down another internet rabbit hole, neither had I.

—Katie Dowd

Because it is so early on in this work it is easy to say that we are either at the edge of a remarkable new and useful science or that we are careering down an environmental rabbit hole.

—Jack Hitt

In the season-two premiere of HBO's Westworld, viewers were again tossed down a rabbit hole filled with theories, where one open door leads to many more closed ones.

—Josh Wigler and Zoe Haylock

Synonyms of rabbit hole

• dilemma
• predicament
• pickle
• hole
• bind
• swamp
• corner

Examples of rabbit hole in a Sentence

shoreline residents are finding themselves helplessly falling down a rabbit hole in their Sisyphean efforts to halt beach erosion

Recent Examples on the Web

Mason highlights – with levity and humor – how erroneous ideas, gullibility, and blinders can lead even people who should know better down rabbit holes. — Monitor Reviewers, Christian Science Monitor, 23 July 2026

This rabbit hole is how Sirianni learned about Anthony Robles, an Arizona State wrestler born with one leg who won a national championship in 2011. — Zach Berman, New York Times, 20 July 2026

Still, that has not meant Trump has any less zeal for this 2020 rabbit hole. — Philip Elliott, Time, 17 July 2026

Phipps Conservatory is inviting Pittsburghers and visitors from far beyond western Pennsylvania to fall down the rabbit hole this summer. — Gabby Sartori, USA Today, 25 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

from the rabbit hole that Alice enters in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for rabbit hole

• amphibole
• asystole
• buttonhole
• casserole
• centriole
• decontrol
• glycerol
• metropole
• monopole
• multipole
• omeprazole
• oriole