rabbit hole

noun

: a complexly bizarre or difficult state or situation conceived of as a hole into which one falls or descends

I wanted to show this woman descending into the rabbit hole: this loss of self, becoming a servant to her job and to the work.—

Jessica Chastain

especially : one in which the pursuit of something (such as an answer or solution) leads to other questions, problems, or pursuits

While trying to find the picture again on Google, I fell down the Cosmo rabbit hole, scrolling through a gallery of swimwear, then through "How to Be Sexier-Instantly" and then through all 23 slides of "Sexy Ideas for Long Hair." —

Edith Zimmerman

Because it is so early on in this work it is easy to say that we are either at the edge of a remarkable new and useful science or that we are careering down an environmental rabbit hole. —

Jack Hitt

In the season-two premiere of HBO's Westworld, viewers were again tossed down a rabbit hole filled with theories, where one open door leads to many more closed ones. —

Josh Wigler and Zoe Haylock

Examples of rabbit hole in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Defense lawyer Adam Lipson had pleaded for leniency, arguing that his client fell into a rabbit hole of conspiracies after having led a crime-free life. —

David K. Li, NBC News, 29 Oct. 2024 Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco are going down the rabbit hole this Halloween. —

Mitchell Peters, Billboard, 27 Oct. 2024 For too long, many have assumed that once someone falls down the rabbit hole of conspiracy thinking, they are lost to reason. —

Bernard Marr, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024 Both spent a significant amount of time falling down the rabbit hole of Alcala’s crimes and the psychology behind his killing sprees. —

Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 1 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for rabbit hole