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.

But opaque AI loans and excessive leverage — ‘credit termites’ — are hollowing out the economy.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

A growing number of towns and villages are hollowing out, with nearly four million homes abandoned over the past two decades, government data released last year showed.

From BBC • Aug. 7, 2025

That, along with increasing labor costs and high gas prices, are hollowing out their margins.

From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2022

Today, disasters are hollowing out more small communities and erasing important cultural, historical and religous sites, leaving only painful memories and sometimes nothing.

From Scientific American • Oct. 30, 2020

My little job is to look out for the safety of the sappers, who are hollowing out and supporting and consolidating an excavation about twelve metres deep already.

From Letters of a Soldier 1914-1915 by Chevrillon, André