bottomless pit

Meanings

1. 1nouncountablefigurative

   Something that seems to swallow unlimited money, time or effort without ever being enough or finished.

   Grammar: Usually 'a bottomless pit': the project became a bottomless pit.

   Patterns

   • a bottomless pit of something
   • treat something as a bottomless pit

   The old house turned into a bottomless pit for our savings.

   Their demands seem like a bottomless pit.

   Repairing the boat became a bottomless pit of time and money.

2. 2nouncountableinformalhumorous

   A person who always seems hungry and can eat a very large amount of food.

   Grammar: Informal and humorous: he is a bottomless pit.

   Patterns

   • be a bottomless pit

   My teenage son is a bottomless pit at dinner.

   She ate three plates and still called herself a bottomless pit.

   The puppy is a bottomless pit when it comes to treats.

3. 3nouncountableliterary

   A hole in the ground so deep that its floor cannot be seen or reached.

   Grammar: Literal and mostly found in stories.

   Patterns

   • fall into a bottomless pit

   In the story, the hero stared into a bottomless pit.

   Legends told of a bottomless pit beneath the mountain.

   The explorer dropped a stone into the bottomless pit and heard nothing.

Word forms

Common combinations

a bottomless pit of money

The scheme was a bottomless pit of money.

throw money into a bottomless pit

Buying that old car is like throwing money into a bottomless pit.

a bottomless pit of need

Her need for approval seemed a bottomless pit.

fall into a bottomless pit

The prince feared he might fall into a bottomless pit.

feel like a bottomless pit

After the run I felt like a bottomless pit.

Synonyms and how they differ

money pit

Money pit is narrower and refers to a property or purchase that keeps costing money, while bottomless pit also covers hunger and needs.

drain

Drain describes something that steadily uses up resources, but is less dramatic than bottomless pit.

abyss

Abyss is more literary and stresses a deep, frightening gap rather than endless demand.

black hole

Black hole, when figurative, stresses something that swallows everything, and is similar though less used for hunger.

Opposites

Word family

bottomless adjective

having no bottom, or seemingly endless

bottom noun

the lowest part of something

pit noun

a large hole in the ground

Commonly confused: bottomless pit or endless pit?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “bottomless pit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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