rabbit hole

rabbit hole

noun

Definition of RABBIT HOLE

: a bizarre or difficult state or situation —usually used in the phrase down the rabbit hole

Examples of RABBIT HOLE

1. <shoreline residents are finding themselves helplessly falling down a rabbit hole in their Sisyphean efforts to halt beach erosion>

Origin of RABBIT HOLE

from the rabbit hole that Alice enters in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

First Known Use: 1980

Related to RABBIT HOLE

Synonyms: bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, jackpot [chiefly West], jam, mire, pickle, quagmire, predicament, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swamp

Related Words: difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait

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Rhymes with RABBIT HOLE

aureole, banderole, bannerol, barcarole, barrel roll, buttonhole, cabriole, camisole, capriole, caracole, carmagnole, coffee roll, croquignole, cubbyhole, decontrol, Demerol, Dover sole, escarole, exit poll, farandole, finger hole, fumarole, girandole, girasole, Grand Guignol, honor roll, innersole, in the hole, Jackson Hole, jelly roll, kaiser roll, lemon sole, meadow vole, methanol, micromole, millimole, monopole, muster roll, on a roll, on the whole, oriole, ostiole, oversoul, ozone hole, petiole, pick-and-roll, pigeonhole, protocol, rigmarole, rock and roll, Seminole, totem pole, tracheole, vacuole, water hole