tunnel

1. 1.

   a passageway through or under something, usually underground (especially one for trains or cars)

   “the tunnel reduced congestion at that intersection”

   Broaderpassageway

   Narrowercatacombrailroad tunnelunderpass

   Partsshaft

   car

2. 2.

   a hole made by an animal, usually for shelter

   Synonymsburrow

   Broaderhole

   Narrowerwarren

1. 1.

   move through by or as by digging

   “burrow through the forest”

   Synonymsburrow

   Broaderdig
2. 2.

   force a way through

   Broaderpenetrate

Other forms of tunnel

plural

tunnels·

past tense or participle

tunnelled

present participle

tunnelling

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 tunnel

What does tunnel mean?

tunnel means "a passageway through or under something, usually underground (especially one for trains or cars)". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in tunnel?

tunnel has 2 syllables: tun-nel. The stress falls on "tun". In IPA it is /ˈtʌnəl/.

What is another word for tunnel?

Close synonyms include burrow, burrow. 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.

Is tunnel a common word?

tunnel 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.