Meaning & use
mine shaft
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A deep, narrow hole dug straight down or at an angle into the earth to reach a mine.
Grammar: Countable: a mine shaft, two mine shafts. Often used after 'down' or 'into'.
Patterns
- down a mine shaft
- into a mine shaft
- a deep mine shaft
The miners descended into the dark mine shaft.
An old mine shaft was discovered near the village.
They lowered equipment down the mine shaft.
Word forms
| plural | mine shafts |
|---|---|
| alternative spelling | mineshaft |
Common combinations
- deep mine shaft
- The deep mine shaft went down hundreds of meters.
- abandoned mine shaft
- Children were warned to stay away from the abandoned mine shaft.
- dig a mine shaft
- It took months to dig the mine shaft.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
Commonly confused: mine shaft or mine shaft?
mine shaft vs mine shaft
Not to be confused with 'mine shift', which would mean a change of workers in a mine.
Practice
The workers climbed down the ______ to reach the coal.
Choose one answer.
A mine shaft is the tunnel you go down to reach minerals. 'Mine shift' means a work period, 'mine shelf' is not a common phrase, and 'mine shaft's' is possessive and does not fit here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mine shaft”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.