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 lead agencies had been hollowed out in the Trump administration, with a sharp increase in departures from career officials who objected to the policies and chafed under intense White House pressure on their portfolios, multiple Biden administration officials recounted to CNN. —

Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 19 May 2024 Moreover, Baltimore has had decades of poverty and one-party government, which has presided over a hollowing out of a once-vibrant business base; a deterioration of public schools; a long-term problem with crime and a decline in the general quality of metropolitan life. —

Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 6 Apr. 2024 The departures follow a series of high-profile exits from the company’s safety team over recent months, which has raised questions as to whether the team is gradually being hollowed out, as Fortune’s Christiaan Hetzner reported. —

Sage Lazzaro, Fortune, 16 May 2024 Sinkholes are usually undetectable for long periods of time until the space hollowed out underground grows too big to support movement on ground. —

Emilee Coblentz, USA TODAY, 7 May 2024 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

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.