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.

Social media algorithms are designed to keep us engaged, often leading us down rabbit holes of content that offers little value yet consumes significant time. —

Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024 Their clever algorithms caught people’s attention and dragged them quickly into addictive rabbit holes of lies and fakery and manipulation. —

Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 7 Nov. 2024 Typically, this entails comparing and filtering through countless reviews and photos—a rabbit hole that can continue on ad infinitum. —

Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Oct. 2024 Still, as Luna squares brainy Mercury at 3:10 pm EST, falling down a rabbit hole of analysis isn’t healthy either. —

Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 24 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for rabbit hole