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Synonyms

trap door

British  

noun

  1. a door or flap flush with and covering an opening, esp in a ceiling

  2. the opening so covered

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

At one point he noticed me looking at a trap door above our head.

From Slate • Oct. 6, 2025

The air flows through a pipe module situated behind the "trap door," generating an acoustic signal.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2024

Or maybe it was just distraction by a record-breaking crowd that led Chris Martin to take a tumble through a trap door at Coldplay’s Sunday concert in Melbourne.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 5, 2024

Flat listless performances against Stoke, Bristol City and then Leeds clearly concentrated minds as the Championship's trap door drew closer.

From BBC • Jan. 2, 2024

Scraping noises; and then, like the gates of the Western Paradise, the trap door would open, lowering into the basement an almost intolerable beam of light.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

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.