noun

cavern

KAV-uhn

noun

A large cave, especially one with a spacious underground chamber.

"Tourists were led through a vast, echoing cavern lit by lanterns."

Any large, dark, hollow space.

"The abandoned warehouse felt like a cold, empty cavern."

How to Use Cavern

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA big cave or cave-like hollow space, usually underground.

Common mistake

"Cavern" implies something larger and more dramatic than an everyday "cave."

Easily confused with

cave →

caverned past tense, caverns plural, caverns singular

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Tourists were led through a vast, echoing _____ lit by lanterns.

From Old French caverne, from Latin caverna ("cavity, cave"), from cavus ("hollow").

tavern