A hole is an empty space or opening in something solid, like a hole in the ground or in a piece of cloth. It can also be used figuratively for a difficult situation or a place that feels small, dull, or unpleasant.
From Old English “hol,” meaning “cave, hollow place,” related to “hollow.” It has long carried the idea of an empty or sunken space.
A hole is defined not by what’s there, but by what’s missing—it's a shape made of absence. Physicists even use “holes” to describe missing electrons in materials, treating them like particles in their own right. Language shows how powerful nothingness can be: we give it a name and treat it like a thing.
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