cavern

American  

[kav-ern] / ˈkæv ərn /

noun

• caverns
  plural

1. a cave, especially one that is large and mostly underground.

2. Pathology. a cavity that is produced by disease, especially one produced in the lungs by tuberculosis.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to enclose in or as if in a cavern.

2. to hollow out to form a cavern.

cavern British  

/ ˈkævən /

noun

1. a cave, esp when large and formed by underground water, or a large chamber in a cave

---

verb

1. to shut in or as if in a cavern

2. to hollow out

cavern Scientific  

/ kăv′ərn /

1. A large cave.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• caverns
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cavern

1325–75; Middle English caverne < Latin caverna, equivalent to cav ( us ) hollow + -erna, as in cisterna cistern

Explanation

A cavern is a large cave or a large chamber in a cave. Or, if your bedroom is very dark, your mother might want you to open the blinds and let some light into that cavern. The word cavern is a late Middle English word that comes from the Latin root cavus, meaning “hollow.” Cavern typically describes a cave, but it can refer to any large enclosed space, especially a space that's dark like a cave. You might sit in a vast cavern when you go to the opera. Cavern can also be used figuratively — you could explore the dark cavern of your mind.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cavern caverns

Air Products—a major supplier and distributor of helium, serving customers in electronics, aerospace and medical imaging—said drawing on its storage cavern in Beaumont allowed it to service clients despite curtailments from Qatar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

At the end of this cavern is a corridor, which is almost 30 metres long and three metres across, and which leads to a second chamber of the cave.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

If we were to squeeze through small cracks in his mind’s cavern walls or crawl down its miniaturized hallways toward Erickson's nerve center, we might find ourselves in a room with a broken printer.

From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2025

Down a corner on the ground floor was a shaft descending more than 30 feet underground that then opened up into a cavern presumably used as a depot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2025

The cavern we’re in shakes—not enough to cause any destruction, but enough to rattle some teeth.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Benchmark U.S. natural-gas futures are trading about 10% below year-ago levels thanks to strong domestic production and comfortable spring weather that enabled traders to sock away fuel in storage caverns.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

The site is one of only three large-scale helium salt caverns worldwide—the others are in Germany and Russia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Teddy Thompson’s voice is a golden, vivid instrument capable of conjuring joy and caverns of heartache.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

The caverns offer “the best security and the most affordable means of storage,” it said, compared with above-ground tanks.

From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026

The ends of their long sweeping boughs hung down like searching fingers, their roots stood up from the ground like the limbs of strange monsters, and dark caverns opened beneath them.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Related Words

• cave
• grotto
• pothole