Word.ws English Dictionary

money pit

money pit noun: a possession or financial commitment, especially a building or vehicle, that creates substantial ongoing expenses, especially one whose costs are considered to be unsustainable.

Noun

money pit (plural money pits)

  1. (idiomatic) A possession or financial commitment, especially a building or vehicle, that creates substantial ongoing expenses, especially one whose costs are considered to be unsustainable.
    • [T]he district does not want to hold on to the nearly 50-year old^([sic]) school for very much longer, as it has outlived its usefulness and has become a money pit.1989 March 10, Laurence Iliff, “Parents Poll Hits Closing Of Ramona”, in The Press-Courier, USA, retrieved 27 Sep 2011, page 1
    • Critics lambasted the building's design, the art collection and Mr. Hartford, whose gallery became a money pit. Within a year he was nosing around for a partner or buyer.1997 February 15, Michael Kimmelman, “An Old Dream For the Arts, A New Chance For the City”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 Sep 2011

Proper noun

the money pit

  1. (capitalized, informal, sometimes) A complicated, seemingly man-made excavation on Oak Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, rumored to contain pirate treasure and which has been repeatedly and unsuccessfully probed at great expense.
    • In 1896 . . . work was again started with two engines and steam pumps, with the intention of pumping out the "money pit".1909 May 20, “Is Capt. Kid's Treasure in Chester Basin, N.S.?”, in St. John Sun, Canada, retrieved 27 Sep 2011
    • They sank twenty shafts in a ring round the central money pit, and drove tunnels endlessly in the hope of intercepting the underground channel and so draining the treasure shaft.1926 June 6, Catherine MacKenzie, “Tide Guards Oak Island's Buried Gold”, in New York Times, page SM11

Examples of money pit in a sentence

  • Edward Reichert, a New Yorker, was planning "a gigantic project" . . . to move in power excavation equipment to seek the storied "money pit".1947 June 4, “Gigantic Search For Treaure May Move Island”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 27 Sep 2011, page 29:
  • The Money Pit shaft rested atop two 500 foot "protection tunnels" which were connected to the bay.1972 December 5, Tom Tiede, “Diggers Keep Seeking Hole Truth of Island's Pirate Treasure Shaft”, in Milwaukee Journal, USA, retrieved 27...
  • This so-called Money Pit has exercised a moth-to-flame attractive power over investors since it was discovered in 1795.1991 July 15, “Hunting for the Grandddaddy of Pirate Treasures”, in CNNMoney.com, retrieved 27 Sep 2011:

Forms of money pit

pluralmoney pits

Questions about money pit

What does money pit mean?
Money pit means a possession or financial commitment, especially a building or vehicle, that creates substantial ongoing expenses, especially one whose costs are considered to be unsustainable.
How do you use money pit in a sentence?
Edward Reichert, a New Yorker, was planning "a gigantic project" . . . to move in power excavation equipment to seek the storied "money pit".
What part of speech is money pit?
Money pit can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of money pit?
The plural of money pit is money pits.

Words near money pit in the dictionary

  1. money order
  2. money orders
  3. money phone
  4. money phones
  5. money piece
  6. money pit
  7. money pits
  8. money plant
  9. money plants
  10. money primaries
  11. money primary

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: money pit (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-money pit.ogg.

Cite this entry: “money pit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/money_pit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.