different between hollow vs fissure

English

Alternative forms

• hallow
• holler (nonstandard: dialectal, especially Southern US)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h?l.??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?h?.lo?/
  • (Southern American English, Appalachia) IPA^(key): /h?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l??

Etymology 1

From Middle English holow, holowe, holwe, holw?, holgh, from Old English holh (“a hollow”), from Proto-Germanic *halhwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *?el?wos. Cognate with Old High German huliwa and hulwa, Middle High German hülwe. Perhaps related to hole.

Noun

hollow (plural hollows)

1. A small valley between mountains.
   • c. 1710–20, Matthew Prior, The First Hymn Of Callimachus: To Jupiter

     Forests grew upon the barren hollows.
2. A sunken area or unfilled space in something solid; a cavity, natural or artificial.

3. (figuratively) A feeling of emptiness.

4. (US) A sunken area.

Translations

Verb

hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)

1. (transitive) to make a hole in something; to excavate

Etymology 2

From Middle English holowe, holwe, holu?, holgh, from the noun (see above).

Adjective

hollow (comparative hollower, superlative hollowest)

1. (of something solid) Having an empty space or cavity inside.

   a hollow tree; a hollow sphere

2. (of a sound) Distant, eerie; echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.
   • 1903, George Gordon Byron, On Leaving Newstead Abbey

     Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle:

3. (figuratively) Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.

   a hollow victory

4. (figuratively) Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.

   a hollow promise

5. Concave; gaunt; sunken.
   • c. 1596-1599, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

     To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow

6. (gymnastics) Pertaining to hollow body position

Derived terms

• hollow leg

Translations

Adverb

hollow (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

Etymology 3

Compare holler.

Verb

hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)

1. To call or urge by shouting; to hollo.
   • 1814. Sir Walter Scott, Waverley

     He has hollowed the hounds.

Interjection

hollow

1. Alternative form of hollo

References

• hollow in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French fissure, Latin fissura.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f??.?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?f??.?/, /?f??.?/
• Homophone: fisher

Noun

fissure (plural fissures)

1. A crack or opening, as in a rock.
2. (anatomy) A groove, deep furrow, elongated cleft, or tear; a sulcus.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fissure (third-person singular simple present fissures, present participle fissuring, simple past and past participle fissured)

1. To split, forming fissures.

Translations

References

• “fissure”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• fussier, surfies

French

Etymology

From Old French, borrowed from Latin fissura.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi.sy?/
• Rhymes: -y?

Noun

fissure f (plural fissures)

1. fissure

Synonyms

• fente

Related terms

• fendre

See also

• ouverture

Verb

fissure

1. first-person singular present indicative of fissurer
2. third-person singular present indicative of fissurer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of fissurer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of fissurer
5. second-person singular imperative of fissurer

Further reading

• “fissure” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Participle

fiss?re

1. vocative masculine singular of fiss?rus

Portuguese

Verb

fissure

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of fissurar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of fissurar
3. first-person singular imperative of fissurar
4. third-person singular imperative of fissurar