honeycomb
Americannoun
-
honeycombs
plural
-
a structure of rows of hexagonal wax cells, formed by bees in their hive for the storage of honey, pollen, and their eggs.
-
a piece of this containing honey and chewed as a sweet.
-
anything whose appearance suggests such a structure, especially in containing many small units or holes.
The building was a honeycomb of offices and showrooms.
-
the reticulum of a ruminant.
-
Textiles.
-
Also called waffle cloth. a fabric with an embossed surface woven in a pattern resembling a honeycomb.
-
the characteristic weave of such a fabric.
-
adjective
verb (used with object)
-
honeycombs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
honeycombed,
past participle, past
-
honeycombing
present participle
-
to cause to be full of holes; pierce with many holes or cavities.
an old log honeycombed with ant burrows.
-
to penetrate in all parts.
a city honeycombed with vice.
noun
-
a waxy structure, constructed by bees in a hive, that consists of adjacent hexagonal cells in which honey is stored, eggs are laid, and larvae develop
-
something resembling this in structure or appearance
-
zoology another name for reticulum
verb
-
to pierce or fill with holes, cavities, etc
-
to permeate
honeycombed with spies
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
honeycombsimple
-
honeycombssimple
-
have honeycombedperfect
-
has honeycombedperfect
-
am honeycombingprogressive
-
are honeycombingprogressive
-
is honeycombingprogressive
-
have been honeycombingperfect progressive
-
has been honeycombingperfect progressive
Past
-
honeycombedsimple
-
had honeycombedperfect
-
was honeycombingprogressive
-
were honeycombingprogressive
-
had been honeycombingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of honeycomb
before 1050; Middle English huny-comb, Old English hunigcamb. See honey, comb
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:
However, several different processes can produce this kind of honeycomb appearance.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
That many are offered with highly Instagrammable toppings like fresh honeycomb has only added to their allure at a time when high inflation has led consumers to seek small indulgences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
When Apollo 11 landed on the moon, in a vehicle optimized for precisely that purpose, the legs, designed with a crushable honeycomb interior, were supposed to contract.
From Slate ● Dec. 9, 2025
“The bristles would allow you to gently brush into all the little honeycomb sections or little divots,” Beitchman explained.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2025
One tiny honeycomb cell is wedged inside, leaving no room to even stand.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
The “last grizzly killed” has several claimants: In Orange County, it was in February 1908, when a huge steel trap was laid for a bear that had been stealing honeycombs from hives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
If a linebacker, perhaps, crashes into this kind of cushion, the impact will cause the honeycombs to collapse in a wave-like pattern.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 5, 2024
The video shows the plane gliding gently over the honeycombs of buildings dotting brown-green fields, before the man filming it turns the camera around and smiles.
From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2023
It holds up well to frequent use, but the concern is whether cleats are getting caught in the honeycombs.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2022
She would climb to the tops, as nimble as a spider, and then send the honeycombs down in baskets on ropes for Xan to catch.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
That sense of exigency is honeycombed with grief.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2023
The resulting porous crystal structure is so fully honeycombed with pockets that a chunk the size of a sugar cube can contain several football fields’ worth of internal surface area.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 17, 2021
There is no question that building on tidal wetlands and permeable limestone honeycombed by seawater is problematic.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 9, 2021
The leopard-spotted, sturdy crust is honeycombed and foldable.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2021
A morel resembles a tanned finger wearing a dark and deeply honeycombed dunce cap.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Weird subterranean winds whistle through caves honeycombing the limestone, and whoosh with an eerie trumpeting from gaping blowholes.
From Time Magazine Archive
There has been honeycombing and pinching and that sort of thing.
From Time Magazine Archive
They saw shadowy caves along the way, and tunnels honeycombing the cliff every which way.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
The idea that the maze was regenerating itself, honeycombing its way under the earth again and providing a spacious new home for monsters...that didn’t make him happy.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
In the rusticated space that fills the sides, quaint sculptures of monsters and birds of foreign plumage may, or rather might have been traced, the honeycombing by weather has made them almost undiscoverable.
From In Troubadour-Land A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
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.
