rabbit hole
Americannoun
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a tunnel made in the ground by a rabbit; a rabbit burrow.
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Informal. a strange, disorienting, or frustrating situation or experience, typically one that is difficult to navigate: I have been down the rabbit hole of building a new home.
I had a history of depression and occasionally fell down dark, deep rabbit holes from which only medication and therapy could pull me out.
I have been down the rabbit hole of building a new home.
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Informal. a time-consuming distraction of one's attention as happens when clicking through online links, following social media posts, or pursuing information.
After diving down an internet rabbit hole and poring over treatments, risks, and so on, she felt even more panicked.
Etymology
Origin of rabbit hole
First recorded in 1660–70; rabbit hole def. 2 was first recorded in 1935–40, from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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.
"I got into a little bit of a rabbit hole with scrutiny and social media when I was at the IPL," says Brook.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
That idea sent me down a rabbit hole involving real-estate agents, tiny shoebox apartments and frustrating chats with mortgage brokers.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
While going down a TikTok rabbit hole on car tech, she was alarmed by one clip in which a woman of similarly short stature said her car decelerated after she briefly slouched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Despite her efforts to curtail his behavior at home, the very technology bought by schools to help democratize learning had become the medium through which he fell deeper down his rabbit hole.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
And since neither of us wants to spiral down the rabbit hole of this particular madness, we excuse ourselves and go outside.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
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.
