hollow out

phrasal verb

hollowed out; hollowing out; hollows out

: to remove the inside of (something) : to make an empty space in (something)

The kids were hollowing out pumpkins.

a hollowed-out log

: to form (something) by digging or cutting the inside of something

Workers hollowed out a tunnel through the mountain.

Examples of hollow out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The Covid-19 pandemic, skyrocketing home health care costs and rising wages in other industries hollowed out the direct support workforce, which includes home health aides and personal care aides who help people with daily tasks. —

Timmy Broderick, STAT, 3 May 2024 Researchers have discovered ancient artifacts, such as bones that were hollowed out and carved with holes — not dissimilar to a modern-day flute. —

Katie Lauer, The Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2024 Administration officials are mindful of how previous surges of cheap Chinese exports of steel and aluminum hollowed out American manufacturing hubs in previous decades. —

Alan Rappeport, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024 People are voting with their feet, and this is the hollowing out of the middle class that puts us on track to maintain our high Gini coefficient — income inequality. —

Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Mar. 2024 The proof is in the pudding: The board has allowed Calhoun to stay on as CEO until the end of the year, with presumably at least some ability to influence his own succession, which speaks to how completely the senior executive ranks have been hollowed out on his watch. —

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 27 Mar. 2024 The larvae hatch and feed inside, hollowing out the twig, which then dies. —

Steve Bender, Southern Living, 22 Mar. 2024 Not only is this revered, iconic pillar of American greatness badly hobbled amidst safety crises, but now its senior executive ranks have been hollowed out, with the board urgently searching for a leadership reset amidst a lack of obvious successors. —

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 27 Mar. 2024 On the present course, in which Ukrainian ammunition and manpower needs are not met, Ukrainian units are likely to hollow out, making Russian breakthroughs a distinct possibility. —

Dara Massicot, Foreign Affairs, 8 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hollow out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.