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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.

But the trap door was what made it real for me.

From Slate • Oct. 6, 2025

As battered suitcases and black sacks stuffed full of cigarettes are heaved up through the makeshift trap door, a man who we're told helps out in the shop watches on laughing.

From BBC • Jul. 3, 2025

Howells and his team set up a trap near the crawl space opening and the bear eventually walked into it and triggered the trap door, wildlife officials said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2025

The trap door then closes again by means of an elastic resetting mechanism.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2024

I opened the trap door and stepped into the attic.

From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan

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.