hollow
Americanadjective
-
hollower,
comparative
-
hollowest
superlative
-
having a space or cavity inside; not solid; empty.
a hollow sphere.
-
having a depression or concavity.
a hollow surface.
-
sunken, as the cheeks or eyes.
-
(of sound) not resonant; dull, muffled, or deep.
a hollow voice.
-
without real or significant worth; meaningless.
a hollow victory.
-
insincere or false.
hollow compliments.
-
hungry; having an empty feeling.
I feel absolutely hollow, so let's eat.
noun
-
hollows
plural
-
an empty space within anything; a hole, depression, or cavity.
-
a valley.
They took the sheep to graze in the hollow.
-
Foundry. a concavity connecting two surfaces otherwise intersecting at an obtuse angle.
verb (used with object)
-
hollows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hollowed,
past participle, past
-
hollowing
present participle
-
to make hollow (often followed byout ).
to hollow out a log.
-
to form by making something hollow (often followed byout ).
to hollow a place in the sand;
boats hollowed out of logs.
verb (used without object)
-
hollows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hollowed,
past participle, past
-
hollowing
present participle
adverb
idioms
adjective
-
having a hole, cavity, or space within; not solid
-
having a sunken area; concave
-
recessed or deeply set
hollow cheeks
-
(of sounds) as if resounding in a hollow place
-
without substance or validity
-
hungry or empty
-
insincere; cynical
-
the capacity to eat or drink a lot without ill effects
adverb
noun
-
a cavity, opening, or space in or within something
-
a depression or dip in the land
verb
-
to make or become hollow
-
to form (a hole, cavity, etc) or (of a hole, etc) to be formed
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hollowsimple
-
hollowssimple
-
have hollowedperfect
-
has hollowedperfect
-
am hollowingprogressive
-
are hollowingprogressive
-
is hollowingprogressive
-
have been hollowingperfect progressive
-
has been hollowingperfect progressive
Past
-
hollowedsimple
-
had hollowedperfect
-
was hollowingprogressive
-
were hollowingprogressive
-
had been hollowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hollow
First recorded before 900; Middle English holow, holw(e), Old English holh “a hollow place”; akin to hole
Explanation
If something is hollow, it is empty on the inside. A chocolate Easter bunny looks like so much chocolate until you realize that it is hollow and quickly eaten. The idea of emptiness is apparent in the other uses for hollow too. A valley between mountains is called a hollow and if you're really thin, you may have hollow cheeks. Things like words and promises are hollow if the person uttering them does not intend to keep them. And a hollow victory is not very satisfying, as it means that you have reached your goal, but lost something more important along the way.
Vocabulary lists containing hollow
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 5
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
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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:
“It would somehow feel thin and hollow, and people may not know why their attention is drifting, but it would drift,” MacFarlane said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
To support Henry Bacon’s Parthenon-like building and Daniel Chester French’s colossal statue, builders had to sink 122 hollow steel cylinders deep into the marshy soil to reach bedrock, then fill each pillar with concrete.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
But his pleas for personal trust ring hollow.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
"Now they tell me he will be gone -- my heart feels hollow."
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
That explosion of tomato and garlic, the ooze of cheese, it erased the smell of bleach that had scorched his nostrils; it filled up the hollow emptiness that yawned in his belly.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
Some create burrows in the ground, others use cavities in wood such as tree hollows or fallen branches, and some nest inside plant stems or small existing holes in twigs.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2026
Centuries ago, they emerged on seaside courses as natural pits and hollows caused by erosion and by animals sheltering from the wind.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
The second species is the ring-tailed glider, and just like its Australian cousin the greater glider, it lives in the hollows of tall trees.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
A nation that teaches fear as a civic virtue hollows itself out from within.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
Their favorite sleeping places were hollows under uprooted trees where they were sheltered from the wind, and able to burrow down among the drifted leaves for warmth.
From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford
That promise, insincere from the start, looks hollower every day.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2025
Were the words that the cast spoke and sung hollower than they’d been 2½ weeks ago?
From Washington Post ● Jun. 26, 2022
Itgen isn’t sure why larger genomes lead to hollower hearts.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 2, 2022
His hair grayer and thinner than in his mugshot from five years ago, and his cheeks a little hollower, Cho, now 56, sat through the two-week trial in a gray pinstripe suit, mustard tie and glasses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2016
Then the clicking of its spikes against the stone suddenly turned into a deeper, hollower sound.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
In a world sorely lacking global leadership, champions of human rights stand poised to earn only the hollowest of victories.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2018
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey was nominated for the presidential race, but it was the hollowest of victories.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 27, 2018
Folk had picked one or the other to win freakishly—on hunches of all sorts, tips of all manners, pure fancy, or “inside information” of the hollowest sort.
From Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 by Various
But even the superfluous ones make much ado about their death, and even the hollowest nut wanteth to be cracked.
From Thus Spake Zarathustra A book for all and none by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
I think it is the hollowest and, I am sorry to say, the commonest, of all the fallacies in the history of the world in all stages of civilisation.
From Indian speeches (1907-1909) by John Morley
Once a byword for joyful excess, Havana has been hollowed by blackouts, departures and deep uncertainty about its future.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said town centres had been "hollowed out" by decades of decline and "for many people, the high streets they grew up with have become unrecognisable".
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Second, it hollowed out Congress’ power to enforce our constitutional promise of racial equality at the polls, insisting that Congress lacked the power to do more than prohibit purposeful racial discrimination.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
Some fear their community will be hollowed out entirely, with many residents already pushed from land they have farmed for decades for the $15 billion project.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
It was about the shape of a corncob, only a little larger and hollowed out so that it could carry a bobbin or quill of weft thread.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
The cause of the commotion stands frozen and alert at the end of a hollowing log.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
“There’s essentially a hollowing out of the middle,” said Jared Walczak, senior fellow at the Tax Foundation.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
The hollowing out of military veterans from the government, particularly those with the most experience, only increases the importance of defense contractors who are following appropriate procedure.
From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2026
Slash costs, and you risk hollowing out the brands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
There are rats everywhere, hollowing the sweetest stalks, and insects too numerous to swat.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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.
