Meaning & use
rabbit burrow
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A hole or tunnel in the ground dug by rabbits as a home and shelter.
Grammar: A countable noun, and a group of connected burrows is called a warren.
Patterns
- a rabbit burrow in something
- the entrance to a rabbit burrow
The dog sniffed at the entrance to a rabbit burrow.
A rabbit burrow in the bank had several entrances.
Hikers must watch for a rabbit burrow in the grass.
Word forms
| plural | rabbit burrows |
|---|
Common combinations
- dig a rabbit burrow
- The rabbit dug a burrow under the hedge.
- rabbit burrow entrance
- The rabbit burrow entrance was hidden by grass.
- abandoned rabbit burrow
- A fox moved into the abandoned rabbit burrow.
- network of rabbit burrows
- A network of rabbit burrows ran under the field.
- collapsed rabbit burrow
- A collapsed rabbit burrow nearly tripped the horse.
Synonyms and how they differ
- warren
- Warren means a network of many rabbit burrows, so it is larger than a single burrow.
- rabbit hole
- Rabbit hole is the common everyday term for the entrance or tunnel, and it is also used in figurative idioms.
- den
- Den is a general word for a wild animal's home and is not specific to rabbits.
- tunnel
- Tunnel is any underground passage, while a rabbit burrow is a rabbit's living space.
Word family
Commonly confused: rabbit burrow or borough? rabbit burrow or warren?
rabbit burrow vs borough
A borough is a town or district. It is pronounced differently from burrow in British English and is unrelated.
rabbit burrow vs warren
A warren is the whole network of burrows, not just one burrow.
Practice
The farmer filled in a ___ near the fence because horses could trip on it.
Choose one answer.
A rabbit burrow is a hole dug in the ground by a rabbit. A hutch or pen is a box or enclosure made by people, so a horse would not trip on it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rabbit burrow”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.