Have you ever fallen down an internet rabbit hole? Learn the meaning of rabbit hole and the origin of this metaphorical phrase today.
-
Kevin
-
March 27, 2022
-
Common Questions
Your writing, at its best
Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant
What does the term rabbit hole mean, and where does it come from? This article will dissect what rabbit hole means and how to use it. It will also cover the origin of the term rabbit hole and teach you how to use rabbit hole in a sentence. Finally, this article will teach you synonyms and translations of rabbit hole.
What Does the Word Rabbit Hole Mean?
While the term rabbit hole can refer to a literal rabbit burrow, rabbit hole is often used as a metaphor for an experience that is tough to navigate, confusing, disorienting, or frustrating. People can also use the term rabbit hole to describe an internet spiral in which someone restlessly pursues information. Rabbit hole is a noun and is most commonly used in the phrase “down the rabbit hole.”
What Is the Origin of Rabbit Hole?
According to Dictionary, the term rabbit hole is a reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/ In this book, young Alice follows a white rabbit holding a pocket watch down a tunnel to another dimension filled with every manner of strange things and unusual things. Alice experiences a long attentional free fall with no sense of time or space that many fictional portals lack in the original story.
Aside from the Carrollian sense, the term rabbit hole is used in the English language to refer to the film The Matrix. In this film, Morpheus gives the main character Neo the option to take the red pill or the blue pill and “see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
How Can Rabbit Hole Be Used in a Sentence?
People can use rabbit hole literally or metaphorically in everyday speech or writing. However, this is a slang term, so it is not appropriate to use the term rabbit hole in formal text or essays. To learn how to use rabbit hole metaphorically, take a look at the below example sentences containing rabbit hole.
Example #1: The Fanfiction Rabbit Hole
I fell down the rabbit hole of online fanfiction, a bizarre world filled with bizarre characters. I saw truly trippy stuff until the point of distraction was too much for me to handle.
Example #2: The Blind Date Rabbit Hole
I went down a rabbit hole on Facebook and Twitter, trying to research the guy I was going on a date with. I wanted to know everything he thought about every topic to ensure I was safe meeting him alone. My internet searches ran deep.
Example #3: The Internet Rabbit Hole
My internet rabbit hole turned up some bizarre stuff. I found strange online behavior that people used as an escape from everyday life and controversial opinions on the politics in the United States of America.
Example #4: Falling Down The Rabbit Hole for the Truth
Each clue I found about my friend’s murder made me burrow deeper down the rabbit hole to find the truth. It was like watching episode after episode of a true crime docuseries; I just couldn’t stop hunting.
What Are Translations of Rabbit Hole?
To communicate about rabbit holes with someone who does not speak English, you can study the below translations of rabbit hole from Nice Translator. Whether you are going to use this term in a literal or metaphorical sense, learning these translations can be helpful.
- Hebrew: חור הארנב
- Croatian: zečja rupa
- Slovenian: zajčja luknja
- Danish: Kaninhul
- German: Kaninchenbau
- Dutch: konijnenhol
- Filipino: Butas ng kuneho
- Arabic: حفرة أرنب
- Swahili: Shimo la sungura
- Bulgarian: заешка дупка
- Estonian: jäneseurg
- Portuguese (Portugal): toca do Coelho
- Tamil: முயல் வளை
- Italian: tana del coniglio
- Greek: λαγούμι
- Bengali: খরগোশের গর্ত
- Serbian: рупа
- Swedish: kaninhål
- Spanish: madriguera del conejo
- Basque: Untxi zuloa
- Welsh: twll cwningen
- Korean: 토끼 구멍
- Lithuanian: Triušio skylė
- Kannada: ಮೊಲದ ರಂದ್ರ
- Amharic: ጥንቸል ቀዳዳ
- Malayalam: മുയൽ ദ്വാരം
- Catalan: forat de conill
- Latvian: truša ala
- Finnish: jäniksenkolo
- Chinese (Taiwan): 兔洞
- Hungarian: nyúlüreg
- French: trou de lapin
- Telugu: కుందేలు రంధ్రం
- Norwegian: kaninhull
- Russian: Кроличья нора
- Gujarati: સસલું છિદ્ર
- Czech: králičí nora
- Indonesian: lubang kelinci
- Polish: królicza nora
- Romanian: gaura de iepure
- Portuguese (Brazil): toca do Coelho
- Marathi: सश्याचे बीळ
- Malay: lubang Arnab
- Ukrainian: кролика
- Thai: รูกระต่าย
- Vietnamese: Thỏ lỗ
- Hindi: ख़रगोश का बिल
- Urdu: خرگوش کا بل
- Japanese: ウサギの巣穴
- Slovak: Zajačia diera
- Chinese (PRC): 兔洞
- Turkish: tavşan Deliği
What Are Synonyms of the Word Rabbit Hole?
The term rabbit hole is a slang term, which means that it is not appropriate to use rabbit hole in every setting or circumstance. If you need another term to use in place of rabbit hole, you can reference this list of synonyms of rabbit hole from Power Thesaurus.
- awkward situation
- bad situation
- bind
- bit of bother
- botched situation
- box
- burrow
- can of worms
- catch-22
- complex problem
- complicated situation
- complication
- corner
- crisis
- critical situation
- cul-de-sac
- deadlock
- deep water
- desperate straits
- difficult position
- difficult situation
- difficulty
- dilemma
- dire straits
- disorder
- distress
- double bind
- double trouble
- embarrassment
- emergency
- fine kettle of fish
- fix
- hell on earth
- hole
- impasse
- jackpot
- jam
- mare’s nest
- mess
- mire
- muddle
- pickle
- plight
- predicament
- pretty kettle of fish
- problem
- problematic situation
- quagmire
- quandary
- rabbit burrow
- rattrap
- scrape
- spot
- sticky situation
- sticky wicket
- swamp
- ticklish situation
- tight corner
- tight spot
- tricky situation
- trouble
- unfortunate situation
Conclusion
The slang term rabbit hole does not always refer to a literal burrow for a rabbit, but it is used to reference a disorienting or strange experience and an internet spiral in pursuit of information. This term references the children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The hit film The Matrix famously uses the term rabbit hole, as do many other pieces of media.
Sources:
