Meanings
plural kettle holes
- geographyA depression in the ground occurring as the result of a large block of ice getting buried by glacial outwash and subsequent melting of it.
An adult male mammoth and four juveniles, trapped about 14,500 years ago in a boggy ʽkettle holeʼ left by a retreating glacier in Shropshire, are the most recent record in the UK.
2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 207Synonyms: kettle
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA depression in the ground occurring as the result of a large block of ice getting buried by glacial outwash and subsequent melting of it.
More synonyms by meaning
noun(geology) a hollow (typically filled by a lake) that results from the melting of a mass of ice trapped in glacial deposits
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian понор
- понор (ponor)depression in the ground
Finnish suppa
- suppadepression in the ground
Italian pseudodolina, kettle
- pseudodolinadepression in the ground
- kettledepression in the ground
- kettle holedepression in the ground
Spanish kettle, marmita de gigante
- kettledepression in the ground
- marmita de gigantedepression in the ground
Swedish dödisgrop, dödishåla
- dödisgropdepression in the ground
- dödishåladepression in the ground
Cite this entry
kettle hole. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettle%20hole
“kettle hole.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettle%20hole. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kettle hole,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettle%20hole.
Source: kettle hole on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.