cave-in

noun

ˈkāv-ˌin 

1

: the action of caving in

2

: a place where earth has caved in

Examples of cave-in in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the late nineteen-eighties, workers began filling the honeycomb of underground tunnels beneath the town with a cement-like grout, to prevent cave-ins. —Michael Luo, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025

Enhanced Safety Mining is dangerous, with risks such as cave-ins, equipment failure and machinery accidents. —Anthony Milewski, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025

Barabbas endures a life of survivor’s guilt and misery following his pardon, toiling away in underground mines, Andor-style, for 20 years before surviving a cave-in and becoming a gladiator. —James Grebey, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024

The mining activities were also in violation of the law because no environmental impact assessment had been done, and the tunnels were described as weak and on the brink of cave-in. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 May 2024

Today's Featured Photo Crews are at work in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood after a sewer cave-in left a massive hole on Campbell Street. —Keisha Rowe, The Courier-Journal, 16 July 2024

Not long after, she’s informed that her father has been killed in a mine cave-in, prompting her return to her desert hometown with the symbolically less-than-subtle name of Creation. —Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2024

Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputies and paramedics responded to the cave-in around 3:16 p.m at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Beach, roughly 7 miles north of Fort Lauderdale Witnesses told NBC6 the children were digging a hole when the ground gave away, trapping them beneath the surface. —David Matthews, New York Daily News, 21 Feb. 2024

Blame the Great Depression, the effects of World War II, a 1968 market fire and a 1980s cave-in of midtown Baltimore property values. —Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun, 23 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cave-in

• aneurin
• crystallin
• eosin
• mandolin
• porphyrin
• underpin
• violin
• akin
• auxin
• buckskin
• chagrin
• deerskin

Kids Definition

cave-in

noun

ˈkā-ˌvin

1

: the action of caving in

2

: a place where earth has caved in