hollowing (out)

verb

present participle of hollow (out)
as in scooping (out)

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hollowing (out)
  1. excavating
  2. shoveling
Verb
  • The roughly six-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) asteroid struck Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, excavating the Chicxulub crater and vaporizing enormous quantities of rock.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 1 Aug. 2026
  • The team tried excavating another unknown soldier from an unrelated case just a day before, but were unsuccessful.
    — Hope McKenney, NPR, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of excavating
Verb
  • Mopping the floor, raking leaves and shoveling snow all require dynamic stability that supports rotational movement.
    — Dana Santas, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2026
  • There’s truly nothing like licking that paper lid, then shoveling that tiny tongue depressor into a child-sized serving of vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
    — Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of shoveling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

hollowing
hollowing (out)
hollowness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hollowing (out).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hollowing%20%28out%29. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Aug. 7

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
fridge-magnet-letters
Drop a Letter Quiz August 2026 Drop a letter from a word to make a totally diffe...
See All