tunnel
Americannoun
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tunnels
plural
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an underground passage.
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a passageway, as for trains or automobiles, through or under an obstruction, as a city, mountain, river, harbor, or the like.
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an approximately horizontal gallery or corridor in a mine.
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the burrow of an animal.
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Dialect. a funnel.
verb (used with object)
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tunnels,
present (3rd person singular)
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tunneled,
past participle, past
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tunnelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
tunneling,
present participle
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tunnelling
present participle (especially British)
-
to construct a passageway through or under.
to tunnel a mountain.
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to make or excavate (a tunnel or underground passage).
to tunnel a passage under a river.
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to move or proceed by or as if by boring a tunnel.
The river tunneled its way through the mountain.
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to pierce or hollow out, as with tunnels.
verb (used without object)
-
tunnels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tunneled,
past participle, past
-
tunnelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
tunneling,
present participle
-
tunnelling
present participle (especially British)
noun
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an underground passageway, esp one for trains or cars that passes under a mountain, river, or a congested urban area
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any passage or channel through or under something
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a dialect word for funnel
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obsolete the flue of a chimney
verb
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(tr) to make or force (a way) through or under (something)
to tunnel a hole in the wall
to tunnel the cliff
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(intr; foll by through, under, etc) to make or force a way (through or under something)
he tunnelled through the bracken
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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subtunnelnoun
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tunnelernoun
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tunnellernoun
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tunnellikeadjective
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untunneledadjective
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untunnelledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tunnelsimple
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tunnelssimple
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have tunneledperfect
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have tunnelledperfect
-
has tunneledperfect
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has tunnelledperfect
-
am tunnelingprogressive
-
am tunnellingprogressive
-
are tunnelingprogressive
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are tunnellingprogressive
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is tunnelingprogressive
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is tunnellingprogressive
-
have been tunnelingperfect progressive
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have been tunnellingperfect progressive
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has been tunnelingperfect progressive
-
has been tunnellingperfect progressive
Past
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tunneledsimple
-
tunnelledsimple
-
had tunneledperfect
-
had tunnelledperfect
-
was tunnelingprogressive
-
was tunnellingprogressive
-
were tunnelingprogressive
-
were tunnellingprogressive
-
had been tunnelingperfect progressive
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had been tunnellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tunnel
1400–50; late Middle English tonel (noun) < Middle French tonele, tonnelle funnel-shaped net, feminine of tonnel cask, diminutive of tonne tun; see -elle
Explanation
A tunnel is a passage that runs underground or through something, like a train tunnel that cuts through a mountain. Some theme parks have networks of underground tunnels so that employees can move around out of sight of visitors. Some tunnels, like New York's Lincoln Tunnel and the Holland Tunnel, which connect New York City to New Jersey, are large and solid enough to drive cars through. Others are much smaller, like the tunnels small animals dig through snow or soil for safety and shelter. As a verb, tunnel means "dig a tunnel" or "force through," the way your neighborhood groundhog tunnels under your dad's vegetable garden.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
However, the US could target tunnel entrances, communications systems, access roads, and other supporting infrastructure, Mahmoudian adds, which "could paralyse the facility's operations even if some of its deepest underground sections survived".
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
"We have seen lots of continuous and steady truck movement throughout the site, entering and exiting the tunnel portals, meaning it is possible that some of those vehicles had moved items inside."
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Despite the looming heatwave, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared that "we are indeed turning the tide, and we can begin to see light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against these fires".
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Work on the site has continued steadily for the past 15 months, including truck traffic, tunnel reinforcements and a new security perimeter, according to Albright’s institute, which examines nuclear and nonproliferation issues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Seidel’s newest tunnel started in the basement of a café in West Berlin and led to the cellar of an apartment house in the East.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
The roadmap, which has not yet been implemented, states: "A process shall begin to inventory and store heavy weapons, military production sites, weapons depots, and tunnels".
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
In recent months, he ventured underground, sleeping in New York City’s subway tunnels, according to his half-sister, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her younger brother.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside Pickaxe Mountain last fall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
In the mine where he works, the tunnels run as deep as 1,300 metres below the surface.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
For the subsequent trip through the loops of silver clockwork and tunnels they end up on a serpent and a rabbit with no complaints to be heard.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Separated from his regiment in the fighting, Thomas was captured by the enemy but has tunneled his way out of prison.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2025
In 2021, using lidar technology, Estrada-Belli found evidence that looters had tunneled inside a seemingly royal pyramid within the city’s monumental core.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 26, 2024
The agency has assumed 12 years overall construction from 2027-2039, for the mostly tunneled Sodo-to-Ballard extension.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2023
Voilà, your water wave has tunneled through a wall!
From Scientific American ● Oct. 12, 2023
He tunneled through the watery darkness, and then the rock above them vanished.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
His body was finally pulled out late on Saturday after rescuers excavated much of an adjacent hillside and then tunnelled toward the bottom of the well.
From Reuters ● Feb. 7, 2022
Her other children have tunnelled under their home, building a safe zone.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2021
Its tunnelled streets often kink and wriggle, or run to dead ends.
From The New Yorker ● May 23, 2019
The road narrowed and tunnelled through the lush woods.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 28, 2016
Many houses there were, chambers, halls, and passages, cut and tunnelled back into the walls upon their inner side, so that all the open circle was overlooked by countless windows and dark doors.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, the Boring Company, is in talks to raise new funding that would value it at around $20 billion, according to people familiar with the discussions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
According to the researchers, satellite glial cells appear to pass healthy mitochondria directly into sensory neurons through tiny structures known as tunneling nanotubes.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026
This compact book weaves together topics including the microscopic quantum tunneling required for nuclear fusion and the macroscopic geometry of spacetime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
In 2006, Waxman introduced legislation to repeal his subway tunnel ban after a panel of geological experts agreed that tunneling along Wilshire could be done safely.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
The legends also tell of a Milagro pastor who went crazy tunneling toward a bell that was ringing underneath his church.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Professor Clarke and his team looked at how these particles appeared to break rules like travelling through energy barriers that conventional physics said was impossible - something called "tunnelling".
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
Using quantum "tunnelling", the electron manages to burrow through the energy barrier.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
Much of the work London-Birmingham section has been completed - with more than 75% of tunnelling complete, according to HS2 Ltd.
From BBC ● May 25, 2025
Michael Greiner is the head of tunnelling at SCS JV.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2025
Soft, soft, but how piercing! boring and drilling into reason, tunnelling through resolution.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
