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

Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw, taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. —Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 12 Nov. 2025

Sabrina Carpenter is finally going down the rabbit hole. —Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 12 Nov. 2025

Sabrina Carpenter is set to jump down the rabbit hole and onto the big screen with a new musical adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2025

First published in 1865, Carroll’s classic children's novel follows a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole and lands in a fantasy world of talking creatures. —Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Nov. 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