pit
Other forms: pits; pitted; pitting
A pit is a hole in the ground, like the one in Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” that the narrator tries not to fall into. A pit can also be smaller indentation. There’s also a pit hiding inside a peach.
Pit is a word with a wide variety of meanings. There's the pit you dig on the beach as a moat for your sandcastle, and the pit a hunter digs for trapping an animal. Then there's the sunken area of a performance hall where musicians play, an orchestra pit, and the area that's reserved for certain activity, like the trading pit at a stock exchange. Finally, a pit is also a large, hard seed — like a peach pit.
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a sizeable hole (usually in the ground)“they dug a pit to bury the body”
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synonyms:
cavity
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types:
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trou-de-loup
a sloping pit with a stake in the middle used as an obstacle to the enemy
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barbecue pit
a pit where wood or charcoal is burned to make a bed of hot coals suitable for barbecuing meat
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borrow pit
a pit created to provide earth that can be used as fill at another site
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divot
(golf) the cavity left when a piece of turf is cut from the ground by the club head in making a stroke
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fire pit
a pit whose floor is incandescent lava
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quicksand
a pit filled with loose wet sand into which objects are sucked down
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sandpit
a large pit in sandy ground from which sand is dug
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sawpit
a pit over which lumber is positioned to be sawed by two men with a long two-handed saw
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tar pit
a natural accumulation of bitumens at the surface of the earth; often acts as a trap for animals whose bones are thus preserved
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a trap in the form of a concealed hole
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a workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it
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a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate“a British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'”
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types:
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chalk pit, chalkpit
a quarry for chalk
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gravel pit
a quarry for gravel
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type of:
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excavation
a hole in the ground made by excavating
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chalk pit, chalkpit
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lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra accompanies the performers
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synonyms:
orchestra pit
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type of:
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area
a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function
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area
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(commodity exchange) the part of the floor of a commodity exchange where trading in a particular commodity is carried on
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type of:
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area
a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function
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area
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(auto racing) an area at the side of a racetrack where the race cars are serviced and refueled
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type of:
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area
a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function
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area
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a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)
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synonyms:
fossa
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types:
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glenoid cavity, glenoid fossa
the concavity in the head of the scapula that receives the head of the humerus to form the shoulder joint
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glenoid fossa, mandibular fossa
a deep concavity in the temporal bone at the root of the zygomatic arch that receives the condyle of the mandible
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epigastric fossa, pit of the stomach
a slight depression in the midline just below the sternum (where a blow can affect the solar plexus)
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type of:
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bodily cavity, cavity, cavum
(anatomy) a natural hollow or sinus within the body
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concave shape, concavity, incurvation, incurvature
a shape that curves or bends inward
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glenoid cavity, glenoid fossa
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mark with a scar
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(Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment“a demon from the depths of the pit”
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synonyms:
Hell, Inferno, infernal region, nether region, perdition
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Antonyms:
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Heaven
the abode of God and the angels
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types:
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Gehenna, Tartarus
a place where the wicked are punished after death
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hellfire, red region
a place of eternal fire envisaged as punishment for the damned
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type of:
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fictitious place, imaginary place, mythical place
a place that exists only in imagination; a place said to exist in fictional or religious writings
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Heaven
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an enclosure in which animals are made to fight
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set into opposition or rivalry
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the hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed
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types:
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peach pit
the stone seed of a peach
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cherry stone
the stone seed of a cherry
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type of:
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pericarp, seed vessel
the ripened and variously modified walls of a plant ovary
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peach pit
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remove the pits from
/pɪt/
/pɪt/
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Copy citationVocabulary lists containing pit
This list covers Woodsong and Nimona.
Rainbow Rowell's best-selling novel chronicles an unlikely love story between two teens struggling to fit in.
Learn these words from the history article by Michael Ruscoe (Inside: Level B, Unit 7). Here are our links to the selections of "More Than a Game": Play Ball!, Analysis of Baseball; Singing and Stretching, Roberto Clemente, Raymond's Run, Pressure Is a Privilege Here are our links to the units of Level B: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A, Level B, Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary
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