What does "hole" mean?
A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
Hole
/həʊl/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
- Grammar: hole is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: abode, abri, abysm, abyss.
- Useful contrasts: bar, bars, block.
- Usage evidence: There is a big hole in your stocking.
How to use "hole"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hole" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hole" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hole" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hole" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hole" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abode" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hole", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
"I made a blind hole in the wall for a peg. I dug a hole and planted a tree in it."
- 2 an opening deliberately made in or through something wordnet
- 3 An opening that goes all the way through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent.
"There’s a hole in my shoe. Her stocking has a hole in it."
- 4 one playing period (from tee to green) on a golf course wordnet
- 5 In games.; A subsurface standard-size hole, also called cup, hitting the ball into which is the object of play. Each hole, of which there are usually eighteen as the standard on a full course, is located on a prepared surface, called the green, of a particular type grass.
Show 24 more definitions
- 6 informal terms for the mouth wordnet
- 7 In games.; The part of a game in which a player attempts to hit the ball into one of the holes.
"I played 18 holes yesterday. The second hole today cost me three strokes over par."
- 8 an opening into or through something wordnet
- 9 In games.; The rear portion of the defensive team between the shortstop and the third baseman.
"The shortstop ranged deep into the hole to make the stop."
- 10 a depression hollowed out of solid matter wordnet
- 11 In games.; A square on the board, with some positional significance, that a player does not, and cannot in the future, control with a friendly pawn.
- 12 an unoccupied space wordnet
- 13 In games.; A card (also called a hole card) dealt face down thus unknown to all but its holder; the status in which such a card is.
- 14 informal terms for a difficult situation wordnet
- 15 In games.; In the game of fives, part of the floor of the court between the step and the pepperbox.
- 16 a fault wordnet
- 17 An excavation pit or trench. slang
- 18 A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity. figuratively
"I have found a hole in your argument."
- 19 In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
- 20 A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
- 21 A person's mouth. derogatory, slang
"Just shut your hole!"
- 22 Any bodily orifice, in particular the anus. slang
- 23 A vagina. Ireland, Scotland, vulgar
- 24 Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment. informal, with-definite-article
"In late December a Washington State prisoner was involved in a scuffle with a guard who was trying to take him into the hole."
- 25 An undesirable place to live or visit. slang
"His apartment is a hole!"
- 26 Difficulty, in particular, debt. figuratively
"If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."
- 27 A chordless cycle in a graph.
- 28 A passing loop; a siding provided for trains traveling in opposite directions on a single-track line to pass each other. slang
"We’re supposed to take the hole at Cronk and wait for the Limited to pass."
- 29 A mountain valley. Canada, US, historical
"Jackson Hole"
Verb
- 1 To make holes in (an object or surface). transitive
"Shrapnel holed the ship's hull."
- 2 make holes in wordnet
- 3 To destroy. broadly, transitive
"She completely holed the argument."
- 4 hit the ball into the hole wordnet
- 5 To go into a hole. intransitive
"Good master Picklock, with your worming brain, And wriggling engine-head of maintenance, Which I shall see you hole with very shortly! A fine round head, when those two lugs are off, To trundle through a pillory!"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball. transitive
"If the player holes the red ball, he scores three, and upon holing his adversary's ball, he gains two; and thus it frequently happens, that seven are got upon a single stroke, by caramboling and holing both balls."
- 7 To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in. transitive
"to hole a post for the insertion of rails or bars"
Adjective
- 1 Obsolete spelling of whole. alt-of, obsolete
"Such was the arrangement of the alphabet over the hole North."
- 2 Misspelling of whole. alt-of, misspelling
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"There is a big hole in your stocking."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hole"?
Common synonyms include: abode, abri, abysm, abyss, aerospace, aerosphere.
How do you use "hole" in a sentence?
There is a big hole in your stocking.
How do you pronounce "hole"?
Pronounced /həʊl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol, from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to hollow.
Etymology 2
Various origins: * English topographic surname for someone who lived by a depression, from Old English holh (“hole”), from Proto-West Germanic *hulwī, from Proto-Germanic *hulwiją. * Borrowed from Norwegian Hole, a habitational surname from Old Norse hóll (“round hill, mound”). * Shortened form of Dutch van Hole, a habitational surname from hol (“hole, depression, cavity”).