1
a
: a covered passageway
specifically
: a horizontal passageway through or under an obstruction
b
: a subterranean gallery (as in a mine)
c
: burrow
tunneled or tunnelled; tunneling or tunnelling
ˈtən-liŋ,
ˈtə-nᵊl-iŋ
1
: to make or use a tunnel
2
physics
: to pass through a potential barrier
electrons tunneling through an insulator between semiconductors
: to make a tunnel or similar opening through or under
also
: to make (one's way) by or as if by making a tunnel
Examples of tunnel in a Sentence
Noun
The train goes through a tunnel in the mountain.
The moles dug tunnels in the yard.
Verb
Workers are tunneling through the hill.
Insects had tunneled into the tree.
Recent Examples on the Web
Eduardo Tansley, New York Times, 18 June 2025
Big Tech ad domination will continue The WPP Media report doesn’t provide much light at the end of the tunnel of Big Tech’s ad revenue dominance.
—Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 9 May 2025
To do so, the team fabricated a device that placed the indium arsenide wire in close proximity to a quantum dot—close enough that electrons could tunnel in between them.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tunnel
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Noun
Lionel Messi waited in the tunnel behind all of his Inter Miami team-mates.
—Eduardo Tansley, New York Times, 18 June 2025
Big Tech ad domination will continue The WPP Media report doesn’t provide much light at the end of the tunnel of Big Tech’s ad revenue dominance.
—Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
Verb
These insects spend five juvenile stages underground (for 13 or 17 years), then tunnel to the surface, and start looking for a mate.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 9 May 2025
To do so, the team fabricated a device that placed the indium arsenide wire in close proximity to a quantum dot—close enough that electrons could tunnel in between them.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tunnel
Cite this Entry
“Tunnel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tunnel. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tunnel
2 of 2 verb
tunneled or tunnelled; tunneling or tunnelling
ˈtən-liŋ,
-ᵊl-iŋ
: to make a tunnel
Medical Definition
tunnel
noun
tun·nel
ˈtən-ᵊl
: a bodily channel see carpal tunnel
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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