cavernous

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective being or suggesting a cavern
  2. adjective filled with vascular sinuses and capable of becoming distended and rigid as the result of being filled with blood

Etymology

Late Middle English cavernous, cavernose, borrowing from Old French caverneux or Latin cavernōsus (“full of hollows or cavities”), from caverna (“a hollow, cavity, cave”) + -ōsus (“-ous, -ose”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to cavern + -ous.

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