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.

The Vince Staples Show (Netflix) The good news: Netflix has renewed this semi-autobiographical comedy from one of our most consistently fascinating rappers, which plunges down the rabbit hole into an uncanny version of Vince Staples’ Long Beach, Calif. hometown, for a second season. —

Judy Berman, TIME, 23 Dec. 2024 Set Design The director and production designer Craig Lathrop went down a historical rabbit hole to create a convincing setting for the horror film's latest adaptation By Maya Ibbitson December 23, 2024 Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu (in theaters December 25) is the third film to bear this name. —

Maya Ibbitson, Architectural Digest, 23 Dec. 2024 This is a funny commentary on our embarrassing listens, and the random rabbit holes and deep cuts people lean into — and the silent majority influence of podcasters. —

EW.com, 8 Dec. 2024 In all those cases, politicians either apologized for or otherwise walked back their statements — but in Mace’s case, being offensive is clearly the point, as the representative continues her plunge down the far-right rabbit hole. —

Samantha Riedel, Them, 6 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for rabbit hole