plural caves
1
: a natural chamber or series of chambers in the earth or in the side of a hill or cliff
2
: a usually underground chamber for storage
a wine cave
also
: the articles stored there
3
: a place providing privacy or seclusion from others
When a friend dragged her out of her cave to go salsa dancing for the first time, the rhythms … stepped into her soul …—
Leslie Guttman
see also man cave
Leslie Guttman
caved; caving; caves
1
: to cease to resist or oppose : to give in or submit to pressure
We kept asking her to come and she finally caved.
—usually used with inHe finally caved in to the pressure to resign.
2
: to fall in or down especially from being undermined
—usually used with in
The roof caved in on them.
: to cause to fall or collapse
—usually used with in
The weight of the snow caved in the roof.
Examples of cave in a Sentence
Noun
Kentucky's Mammoth Cave is actually a series of large chambers on five levels.
Verb (2)
the wall caved in when a tree fell on it
I caved in to my bibliomania and bought two more books last week
Recent Examples on the Web
Adrienne Jordan, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Deep inside a pitch-black cave straddling the Albanian-Greek border, researchers have uncovered what may be the largest spider web ever recorded—teeming with more than 111,000 spiders.
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
Democrats are not ready to cave to GOP pressure to reopen the government without more assurances on health insurance subsidies, and Republicans are not opening the door to further concessions.
—Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 7 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cave
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Noun
Some thrilling dive spots include Anchor Reef which has an impressive black coral garden and Bat Cave, a 250-year-old sandstone tunnel where divers can view hundreds of bats on the roof of the cave before descending.
—Adrienne Jordan, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Deep inside a pitch-black cave straddling the Albanian-Greek border, researchers have uncovered what may be the largest spider web ever recorded—teeming with more than 111,000 spiders.
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Verb
The roof started caving in after the heavy snow this winter and a steady rain this summer.
—Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
Democrats are not ready to cave to GOP pressure to reopen the government without more assurances on health insurance subsidies, and Republicans are not opening the door to further concessions.
—Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 7 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cave
Cite this Entry
“Cave.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cave. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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