plural caves
1
: a natural chamber or series of chambers in the earth or in the side of a hill or cliff
2
: a usually underground chamber for storage
a wine cave
also
: the articles stored there
3
: a place providing privacy or seclusion from others
When a friend dragged her out of her cave to go salsa dancing for the first time, the rhythms … stepped into her soul …—
Leslie Guttman
see also man cave
Leslie Guttman
caved; caving
1
: to fall in or down especially from being undermined
—usually used with in
2
: to cease to resist : submit
—usually used with in
: to cause to fall or collapse
—usually used with in
Synonyms
Examples of cave in a Sentence
Noun
Kentucky's Mammoth Cave is actually a series of large chambers on five levels.
Verb (2)
the wall caved in when a tree fell on it
I caved in to my bibliomania and bought two more books last week
Recent Examples on the Web
Katie Hunt, CNN, 24 Jan. 2025
Both returned to their old village, both rebuilt their lives, and both lived with the atrocity inside of them until death, retreating back into the caves and sleeping with a saw under their mattress, as if preparing for a resumption of hostilities at any moment.
—Robert Rubsam, Vulture, 22 Jan. 2025
Allison Morrow, CNN, 25 Jan. 2025
The house had been damaged, too: windows broken, parts of the roof caved in.
—Michael Holtz, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for cave 
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Noun
Usually, archaeologists make bombshell discoveries when a trowel hits a skull or other telltale bone in the confines of a cave.
—Katie Hunt, CNN, 24 Jan. 2025
Both returned to their old village, both rebuilt their lives, and both lived with the atrocity inside of them until death, retreating back into the caves and sleeping with a saw under their mattress, as if preparing for a resumption of hostilities at any moment.
—Robert Rubsam, Vulture, 22 Jan. 2025
Verb
View Comments Since then, dozens of brands — Walmart, Ford and Target, to name just a few — have seemingly caved to right-wing activists by announcing rollbacks to their DEI programs.
—Allison Morrow, CNN, 25 Jan. 2025
The house had been damaged, too: windows broken, parts of the roof caved in.
—Michael Holtz, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for cave
Dictionary Entries Near cave
Cite this Entry
“Cave.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cave. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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