pothole
pothole noun: a shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion, weather or traffic.
Noun (1)
pothole (plural potholes)
- A shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion, weather or traffic.
- I was so tired that potholes, fumes and noise aside, I slept regardless, my head rag-dolling from side to side.2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 86
- The previous Elantra had three problems: The steering hero-worshiped Novocain, occupants grew hoarse from shouting over road noise, and large potholes betrayed a lack of structure.2016 April 28, Tom Voelk, “Video Review: Hyundai Elantra Offers Fewer Curves, but a Better Ride”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Nov 2020
- A pit formed in the bed of a turbulent stream.
- The earliest ideas on the creation of potholes are that they were associated with "moulins de glacier" (glacier mills) formed where surface streams on glaciers and ice sheets fall into holes in the ice. Water entering these surficial holes was believed to impact on the bedrock beneath creating a...2002, May-June, Grand River Conservation Authority (Canada) Newsletter
- Synonyms:
- giant kettle
- A vertical cave system, often found in limestone.
- A pit resulting from unauthorized excavation by treasure-hunters or vandals.
- A shallow hole dug for the purpose of prospecting for opal or gold.
- A hyperlink with text displayed on a page that is different from the title of the page to which the text links; a piped link.
Noun (2)
pothole (plural potholes)
- A hole or recess on the top of a stove into which a pot may be placed.
- Stoves with two or more potholes
The normal single-pot stove in which the pot sits on top, rather than being sunk into the pothole, has a major limitation.1984, Stoves and trees: how much wood would a woodstove save if a woodstove could save wood?
- Stoves with two or more potholes
pothole meaning in Urdu, Kannada, Assamese and Tagalog
pothole in Urdu
- pothole
- کھڈا khaḍḍā
pothole in Kannada
- ಕುಳಿ, ಗುಂಡಿ, ಪಳ್ಳ, ಹಳ್ಳ, ನೀರೊರತೆ
pothole in Assamese
- a hole in a road
- ডোং düṅ, ডোঙা düṅa
pothole in Tagalog
- a hole in a road
- lubak
More languagesFewer languages
- pothole in Vietnamese
- ổ gà, ổ voi
Examples of pothole in a sentence
- In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
- The workers were shovelling gravel and tarmac into the pothole in the road.
- I was unseated from my bike after hitting an unexpected pothole.
Synonyms of pothole
Forms of pothole
| plural | potholes |
|---|
Origin of pothole
From dialectal pot (“pit, hollow, cavity”) + hole. The "cave" senses, attested since at least 1809 (as pot-hole), may be from Middle English pot, potte (“a deep hole for a mine, or from peat-digging”), of uncertain origin; perhaps related to English pit, pote, or pot. Compare Scots pott, patt (“a pit dug in the ground; coalpit”).
From pot + hole. Attested since at least 1811 (also as pot-hole), possibly continuing Middle English *pothol (attested in the plural, potholys).
Words formed from pothole
Questions about pothole
- What does pothole mean?
- Pothole means a shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion, weather or traffic.
- What is pothole in Urdu?
- Pothole in Urdu is کھڈا (khaḍḍā). See Pothole meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is pothole?
- Pothole is a noun.
- What is the plural of pothole?
- The plural of pothole is potholes.
Words near pothole in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pothole (page history and authors); کھڈا (Urdu) (page history and authors); pothole (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pothole.wav.
Cite this entry: “pothole.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pothole. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.