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.

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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

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verb

1. to shut in or as if in a cavern

2. to hollow out

cavern Scientific  

/ kăv′ərn /

1. A large cave.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• caverns
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cavern

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

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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

The cave, an underwater system which extends for hundreds of meters through multiple chambers and internal passages, begins with a first large, bright cavern with a sandy bottom.

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

Over the next two years, starting in January, a team will excavate the cavern by removing rock and soil.

From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2024

He stayed at the cavern mouth, deep in contemplation.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

It is, rather, “a series of fan’s notes, material brought back from some of the remoter caverns of Tolkien’s imagination, into which . . . critics and biographers have rarely strayed.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

The 60 Gulf Coast salt caverns that make up the stocks can’t be drawn from or refilled at the rate at which they were designed, federal researchers have found.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

European gas-storage facilities are spread across the Continent, from tank farms to massive underground caverns.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Freshly excavated caverns 100m underground sit next to stores that have been used for sparkling wine, apples and cheese in recent years.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

In later poets there are various entrances to it from the earth through caverns and beside deep lakes.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

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Related Words

• cave
• grotto
• pothole

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