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Definitions

tunnel

[tuhn-l] / ˈtʌn l /


VERB
dig a passage through
Synonyms
Antonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Huge numbers with flares gathered outside the ground, heeding a call from the 1958 Group, before making their way through the Munich tunnel under the stadium.

From BBC Sep. 13, 2026

Boring also said it has finished an industrial tunnel at Tesla’s sprawling factory in Texas that has made it easier to transport finished Cybertruck electric pickups.

From MarketWatch Sep. 10, 2026

There is the tunnel vision, that narrowing of the entire clamoring world down to 100 yards of grass and a single question of whether the men in my colors will get there.

From Salon Sep. 9, 2026

The store never had customer traffic, so U.S. law enforcement suspected it hid a tunnel and began monitoring the business.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 9, 2026

Inside the circle, Jack could make out some kind of tunnel of the same fire, ending in a second circle.

From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley

Elon Musk continues to draw investment dollars — this time for a tunneling company that just raised $3 billion so it can help “solve traffic” via expensive underground tunnels.

From MarketWatch Sep. 10, 2026

But in a twist, some tunnels now connect to drainage and sewer systems.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 9, 2026

Rescue teams are racing to clear out the tunnels, choked with hardened mud and rock.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 9, 2026

Nepal's flood disaster posed an unprecedented challenge, Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix said Monday, with multiple search operations underway in Himalayan hydropower tunnels.

From Barron's Sep. 7, 2026

Entering Matrosskaya Tishina, I found a confusing maze of cell blocks, low doorways, endless tunnels, dingy corridors, and ancient metal staircases.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

“At these depths, there would not be noise and vibration,” Sheridan said, noting that Metro had tunneled in similar soil conditions at similar depths without settlement problems.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 24, 2026

In 2021, using lidar technology, Estrada-Belli found evidence that looters had tunneled inside a seemingly royal pyramid within the city’s monumental core.

From National Geographic Jan. 26, 2024

Voilà, your water wave has tunneled through a wall!

From Scientific American Oct. 12, 2023

The incident occurred within the light-rail line’s most dangerous stretch, on MLK Way South, where trains are on the surface rather than being elevated or tunneled like other parts of the line.

From Seattle Times Aug. 12, 2023

They cut paths right through the house, tunneled through the pipes, took over the pantry.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

On 10 March 1945, 70 German prisoners of war tunnelled their way out of the hut, which is now owned by the council.

From BBC Oct. 10, 2021

According to the report, the six were cell mates and tunnelled out of Gilboa prison in northern Israel, where security forces launched a search.

From Reuters Sep. 6, 2021

We tunnelled them out and ringed the tunnels with snow-forts.

From The Guardian Dec. 14, 2018

During the construction of the dam, they tunnelled into the rock at the base of the slide and drilled hundreds of drainage holes upward into the plane of failure.

From Textbooks Jan. 1, 2015

Many houses there were, chambers, halls, and passages, cut and tunnelled back into the walls upon their inner side, so that all the open circle was overlooked by countless windows and dark doors.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Elon Musk continues to draw investment dollars — this time for a tunneling company that just raised $3 billion so it can help “solve traffic” via expensive underground tunnels.

From MarketWatch Sep. 10, 2026

Bringing the two together raises a fundamental question: what happens to familiar thermodynamic processes when quantum effects such as tunneling, entanglement, and superposition enter the picture?

From Science Daily Aug. 14, 2026

They also provide advanced privacy features, including kill switches, ad and tracker blockers and split tunneling.

From Salon Jun. 10, 2026

This compact book weaves together topics including the microscopic quantum tunneling required for nuclear fusion and the macroscopic geometry of spacetime.

From The Wall Street Journal May 19, 2026

I suppose the mice went right on tunneling to the grasses and the mosses and had no trouble staying alive, but I did wonder how The Baron Weasel was doing.

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

A tunnelling expert involved in the rescue operation at a blocked Nepalese hydropower tunnel has described to the BBC how they managed to reach survivors.

From BBC Sep. 4, 2026

If tunnelling releases it into a confined space and it comes into contact with a spark or another ignition source, it can ignite or explode, a government official said.

From BBC Jul. 22, 2026

They are widely seen as a pest on agricultural land because their tunnelling can damage the root systems of crops and pasture and the molehills can cause damage to machinery.

From BBC Mar. 22, 2026

Using quantum "tunnelling", the electron manages to burrow through the energy barrier.

From BBC Oct. 7, 2025

Soft, soft, but how piercing! boring and drilling into reason, tunnelling through resolution.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley




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