cave
Americannoun
-
caves
plural
-
a hollow in the earth, especially one opening more or less horizontally into a hill, mountain, etc.
-
a storage cellar, especially for wine.
-
English History. a secession, or a group of seceders, from a political party on some special question.
verb (used with object)
-
caves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caved,
past participle, past
-
caving
present participle
-
to hollow out.
-
Mining.
-
to cause (overlying material) to fall into a stope, sublevel, or the like.
-
to cause (supports, as stulls or sets) to collapse beneath overlying material.
-
to fill (a stope or the like) with caved-in material.
sub-level caving.
-
verb (used without object)
-
caves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caved,
past participle, past
-
caving
present participle
verb phrase
noun
-
an underground hollow with access from the ground surface or from the sea, often found in limestone areas and on rocky coastlines
-
history a secession or a group seceding from a political party on some issue See Adullamite
-
(modifier) living in caves
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cavesimple
-
cavessimple
-
have cavedperfect
-
has cavedperfect
-
am cavingprogressive
-
are cavingprogressive
-
is cavingprogressive
-
have been cavingperfect progressive
-
has been cavingperfect progressive
Past
-
cavedsimple
-
had cavedperfect
-
was cavingprogressive
-
were cavingprogressive
-
had been cavingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cave
1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Late Latin cava (feminine singular), Latin cava, neuter plural of cavum hole, noun use of neuter of cavus hollow
Explanation
A cave is hollow space underground that's big enough for a person to walk or crawl into. People who explore caves often wear battery-powered headlamps. You might see a small cave in the side of a cliff as you hike up a mountain, or swim into an underwater cave when you go snorkeling. In either case, a cave is a deep, carved-out chamber that opens above ground — or in the water. People who regularly explore caves are called spelunkers, or cavers. The Latin root word is cavea, "hollow."
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:
Her first eclipse, seen in 2006 from a cave in Cappadocia, Turkey, made Whitman Check hyperventilate and her husband cry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
On a Turkish hillside overlooking the olive-covered slopes outside Izmir is a cave known to generations of locals as the place where Homer penned "The Odyssey".
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Walker and her colleagues collected historical animal bones from Green Waterhole and Gouldens Sinkhole, two underwater cave systems near Mount Gambier, South Australia.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
"The land above the cave… slid after the heavy rain that lasted throughout the night," Dagnachew Azbite, a senior local official, told the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Angela rushed back toward the dark section of the cave.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Taylor says various examples demonstrate that keeping things underground, or deep inside caves, is an effective defensive strategy.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The analysis showed that underwater caves can preserve skeletal remains exceptionally well.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Later, merchants and government officials sponsored larger and more elaborately decorated caves to curry karmic favor on their journeys, as well as to promote their particular religious and aesthetic visions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
As the religion grew, travelers passing through Dunhuang started to carve caves into the nearby rock as places to pause and meditate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
They exchanged grave looks as they learned what had happened in the caves.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
The photographer was shocked to see his studio roof had completely caved in.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Visitors may have noticed that Odorysseus’ spadix — the conic protrusion emerging upward from the plant — was much taller than Odora’s, which had caved in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
May and June were exceedingly dry, the main water pump conked out regularly, the roof of the ladies’ room caved in and the pro shop needed more scorecards, which are surprisingly expensive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
On Friday, just a couple of days after publicly insisting that the probe would go on, Pirro finally caved.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2026
The round belly that I once loved to wrap my arms around is caved in, showing his rib cage.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
Yet the trick of this irresistible groove is that it feels like a house party caving in on itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Paakkarinen was careful not to go into detail but said "the equipment we found them with wasn't optimal. They weren't using underwater caving gear".
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
History suggests they will hesitate before eventually caving to his will.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2026
Are we wrong for not caving or catering more to our out-of-town guests?
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 26, 2025
She looks like she is crumbling inward, caving like a terrible weight is pressing on her.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
