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

The Wolverine went down a rabbit hole. —Troy Renck, Denver Post, 8 Jan. 2026

That recommendation algorithm, as my reporting and other people’s reporting has shown over the years, brings people into—people call it the rabbit hole, right? —David Frum, The Atlantic, 31 Dec. 2025

For months, 19 Stagecraft seventh and eighth graders built each intricate set wall, the caterpillar platform, the Queen of Heart’s staircase, jumbo mushrooms on wheels, and even an 11-foot tree with a large rabbit hole inside of it. —Rancho Santa Fe Review, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Dec. 2025

Aimee Rose-Haynes became a genetic genealogist after discovering her knack for jumping into DNA rabbit holes about 10 years ago while trying to diagnose her daughter's illness, which turned out to be both Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). —David Oliver, USA Today, 21 Dec. 2025

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