hollow

1. 1.

   a cavity or space in something

   “hunger had caused the hollows in their cheeks”

   Broadercavity
2. 2.

   a small valley between mountains

   “he built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Appalachians”

   Synonymsholler

   Broadervalley

   Narrowerdell
3. 3.

   a depression hollowed out of solid matter

   Synonymshole

   Broadernatural depression

   Narrowerburrowgopher holekettle holepitpotholerabbit burrowwormhole

1. 1.

   remove the inner part or the core of

   “the mining company wants to excavate the hillside”

   Synonymsexcavatedig

   Broaderremove

   Narrowerdrivetrench
2. 2.

   remove the interior of

   “hollow out a tree trunk”

   Synonymshollow outcore out

   Broaderempty

   Narrowerroutscallopholesuck inscoop outcaverncavedigexcavatecore

Other forms of hollow

plural

hollows·

past tense

hollowed·

present participle

hollowing·

comparative

hollower·

superlative

hollowest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about hollow

What does hollow mean?

hollow means "not solid; having a space or gap or cavity". That is the primary sense; the word has 9 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in hollow?

hollow has 2 syllables: hol-low. The stress falls on "hol". In IPA it is /ˈhɑloʊ/.

What is another word for hollow?

Close synonyms include empty, vacuous, holler, hole, excavate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of hollow?

The recorded antonyms are solid.

Is hollow a common word?

hollow is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.