hole

American  

[hohl] / hoʊl /

noun

holes plural

1. an opening through something; gap; aperture.

   a hole in the roof;

   a hole in my sock.

   Synonyms:

   concavity, hollow, pit

2. a hollow place in a solid body or mass; a cavity.

   a hole in the ground.

   Synonyms:

   concavity, hollow, pit

3. the excavated habitation of an animal; burrow.

   Synonyms:

   retreat, lair, cave, den

4. a small, dingy, or shabby place.

   I couldn't live in a hole like that.

   Synonyms:

   shack, hovel

5. a place of solitary confinement; dungeon.

6. an embarrassing position or predicament.

   to find oneself in a hole.

7. a cove or small harbor.

8. a fault or flaw.

   They found serious holes in his reasoning.

9. a deep, still place in a stream.

   a swimming hole.

10. Sports.

    1. a small cavity, into which a marble, ball, or the like is to be played.

    2. a score made by so playing.

11. Golf.

    1. the circular opening in a green into which the ball is to be played.

    2. a part of a golf course from a tee to the hole corresponding to it, including fairway, rough, and hazards.

    3. the number of strokes taken to hit the ball from a tee into the hole corresponding to it.

12. Informal. opening; slot.

    The radio program was scheduled for the p.m. hole.

    We need an experienced person to fill a hole in our accounting department.

13. Metalworking. (in wire drawing) one reduction of a section.

14. Electronics. a mobile vacancy in the electronic structure of a semiconductor that acts as a positive charge carrier and has equivalent mass.

15. Aeronautics. an air pocket that causes a plane or other aircraft to drop suddenly.

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verb (used with object)

holes, present (3rd person singular) holed, past participle, past holing present participle

1. to make a hole or holes in.

2. to put or drive into a hole.

3. Golf. to hit the ball into (a hole).

4. to bore (a tunnel, passage, etc.).

verb (used without object)

holes, present (3rd person singular) holed, past participle, past holing present participle

1. to make a hole or holes.

verb phrase

1. hole out to strike the ball into a hole.

   He holed out in five, one over par.

2. hole up

   1. to go into a hole; retire for the winter, as a hibernating animal.

   2. to hide, as from pursuers, the police, etc..

      The police think the bank robbers are holed up in Chicago.

idioms

1. burn a hole in one's pocket, to urge one to spend money quickly.

   His inheritance was burning a hole in his pocket.

2. make a hole in, to take a large part of.

   A large bill from the dentist made a hole in her savings.

3. hole in the wall, a small or confining place, especially one that is dingy, shabby, or out-of-the-way.

   Their first shop was a real hole in the wall.

4. pick a hole / holes in, to find a fault or flaw in: Also poke a holeholes in.

   As soon as I presented my argument, he began to pick holes in it.

5. in a / the hole,

   1. in debt; in straitened circumstances.

      After Christmas I am always in the hole for at least a month.

   2. Baseball, Softball. pitching or batting with the count of balls or balls and strikes to one's disadvantage, especially batting with a count of two strikes and one ball or none.

   3. Stud Poker. being the card or one of the cards dealt face down in the first round.

      a king in the hole.

hole British  

/ həʊl /

noun

1. an area hollowed out in a solid

2. an opening made in or through something

3. an animal's hiding place or burrow

4. informal an unattractive place, such as a town or a dwelling

5. informal a cell or dungeon

6. informal a small anchorage

7. a fault (esp in the phrase pick holes in )

8. slang a difficult and embarrassing situation

9. the cavity in various games into which the ball must be thrust

10. 1. the cup on each of the greens

    2. each of the divisions of a course (usually 18) represented by the distance between the tee and a green

    3. the score made in striking the ball from the tee into the hole

11. physics

    1. a vacancy in a nearly full band of quantum states of electrons in a semiconductor or an insulator. Under the action of an electric field holes behave as carriers of positive charge

    2. ( as modifier )

       hole current

    3. a vacancy in the nearly full continuum of quantum states of negative energy of fermions. A hole appears as the antiparticle of the fermion

12. so worn as to be full of holes

    his socks were in holes

13. 1. in debt

    2. (of a card, the hole card, in stud poker) dealt face down in the first round

14. to consume or use a great amount of (food, drink, money, etc)

    to make a hole in a bottle of brandy

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verb

1. to make a hole or holes in (something)

2. golf to hit (the ball) into the hole

hole Scientific  

/ hōl /

1. A gap, usually the valence band of an insulator or semiconductor, that would normally be filled with one electron. If an electron accelerated by a voltage moves into a gap, it leaves a gap behind it, and in this way the hole itself appears to move through the substance. Even though holes are in fact the absence of a negatively charged particle (an electron), they can be treated theoretically as positively charged particles, whose motion gives rise to electric current.

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hole More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing hole

• ace in the hole
• black hole
• in a bind (hole)
• in the hole
• money burns a hole in one's pocket
• need like a hole in the head
• pick holes in
• square peg in a round hole

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Synonym Usage

Hole, cavity, excavation refer to a hollow place in anything. Hole is the common word for this idea: a hole in turf. Cavity is a more formal or scientific term for a hollow within the body or in a substance, whether with or without a passage outward: a cavity in a tooth; the cranial cavity. An excavation is an extended hole made by digging out or removing material: an excavation before the construction of a building.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• holeless
  adjective
• holey
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• holes
  plural

Participles

• holing
  present
• holed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hole
  simple
• holes
  simple
• have holed
  perfect
• has holed
  perfect
• am holing
  progressive
• are holing
  progressive
• is holing
  progressive
• have been holing
  perfect progressive
• has been holing
  perfect progressive

Past

• holed
  simple
• had holed
  perfect
• was holing
  progressive
• were holing
  progressive
• had been holing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hole
  simple
• will have holed
  perfect
• will be holing
  progressive
• will have been holing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of hole

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hol “hole, cave,” originally neuter of hol (adjective) hollow ; cognate with German hohl “hollow”

Explanation

A hole isn't just a hollow space dug out of the ground or punched out of something. When you're talking casually with friends, you can also call a place that's small or dumpy a hole, like a rundown town or a really tiny apartment. The word hole comes from the Old English hol meaning "cave" which in prehistoric times wasn't just a dark space to hide, it was a home. The word hole is used in many contexts from a rabbit hole where rabbits live to "a hole in one" — the golf term. And, if you're feeling sick or depressed, you can hole up in your room — hiding away from the world, watching TV for hours.

Example Sentences

Appeared in the June 5, 2026, print edition as 'An Ancient Candy Fills a Hole in My Heart'.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

Powell and the Fed pushed inflation lower until the month after Powell’s 2024 speech in Jackson Hole.

From MarketWatch • May 10, 2026

At Hole Park Gardens in Kent, owner Edward Barham has described this year's bluebell display as "magnificent - probably one of the best of recent years".

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

"It looks almost that you cannot escape the critical point if you entered it, almost like a Black Hole," says Robin Tyburski, researcher in Chemical Physics at Stockholm University.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

I didn’t exactly have a watertight cover story, and I raced to think of one as we approached the Priest Hole.

From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Related Words

• break
• crack
• crater
• cut
• dent
• gap
• mouth
• pit
• pocket
• tunnel
• void
• window