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

Too much dependency on temporary talent can hollow out institutional knowledge. —Agni Ghosh, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Step by step, democracy was hollowed out until only the shell remained. —Stacey Abrams, Time, 28 Aug. 2025

But the other version is that Drahi is deliberately hollowing out one of the world’s great auction houses, turning it from an institution of taste and knowledge into something much closer to a generic platform that sets a price for things that have no price, taking a cut along the way. —Sam Knight, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025

The trees were cut down, sawed in half, hollowed out and tied back together for the musicians to use. —Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for hollow out

• roundabout
• runabout
• sauerkraut
• thereabout
• turnabout
• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout