Word.ws English Dictionary

pitfalls

pitfalls is the plural of pitfall.

pitfalls is the third-person singular simple present indicative of pitfall.

Meaning of pitfall

Noun

pitfall (plural pitfalls)

  1. (literal) A type of trap consisting of a concealed pit in the ground, into which the victim is supposed to fall and not be able to get out from.
    Synonyms:
    trapping pit
  2. (figuratively) A potential, unsuspected, hidden problem, hazard, or danger that is easily encountered but not immediately obvious.
    • It's usually a simple task, but you should know the pitfalls before you attempt it yourself.
    Synonyms:
    trap
  3. An antipattern.
  4. Subsidence below ground in a mine, which can cause the ground level above to drop.
    • This pitfall, beginning in February and finishing in May, resulted in a drop of about 3 ft. in the platform level; during this period it was necessary to level the track three times weekly, and impose a service slack of 15 m.p.h. The subsidence appears now to have finished, and normal speed is once...1939 June, “Pertinent Paragraphs: Pitfalls”, in Railway Magazine, page 456

See all 5 meanings of pitfall

Phrases with pitfalls

Questions about pitfalls

What is pitfalls the plural of?
Pitfalls is the plural of pitfall.

Words near pitfalls in the dictionary

  1. Pitești
  2. pitfall
  3. pitfall and gin
  4. pitfalled
  5. pitfalling
  6. pitfalls
  7. pitfalls and gins
  8. pitful
  9. pitfuls
  10. pith
  11. pith and substance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pitfalls (page history and authors); pitfall (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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Cite this entry: “pitfalls.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pitfalls. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.