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Glite Dictionary
bottomless pit

bottomless pit

3 6.3
A situation that always needs more money or help
  • noun
  • Informal
: pozo sin fondo
  • Frankly, it seems to me that we are marching towards that bottomless pit, even if the economy by and large recovers!

Behind the wall of misleading thumbnails and titles is a nearly bottomless pit of content theft and criminality.

Examples

  • As far as my looks go, I am seething with insecurity, a bottomless pit into which compliments fall for a brief, shining moment, then disappear.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • This thing's a bottomless pit.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Their needs are a bottomless pit.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • It's a bottomless pit of expenses!

    One Night at McCool's (2001)

  • It was like a bottomless pit.

    After Death (2023)

  • She discovered that his need was like a bottomless pit.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • It seems like a bottomless pit.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Do you think Maine should continue to follow this downward spiral into a bottomless pit?

    Blog text (15)

  • Of course, there may be some friends who become bottomless pits of need and greed.

    Blog text (31)

  • Many people believe that the cost of maintaining old buildings is a bottomless pit of expenses.

Synonyms

black hole
vsbottomless pit
17 5.5

A thing, like a failing project, that uses a lot of time or money and gives nothing back

describes an unending need even if some return exists
money pit
vsbottomless pit
  • Informal
6 7.3

A thing like a house or boat that always needs a lot of money for repairs

is a broad consuming situation not limited to money or property

How Costly

bottomless pit
  • Informal
3 6.3
money pit
  • Informal
6 7.3
to drain
189 3.4
expense
524 2.7

Surface Forms

bottomless pit singular
bottomless pits plural

Morphology

bottomless + pit

The meaning is directly inferable from the constituents: 'bottomless' (without a bottom/ endless) + 'pit' (a deep hole) evokes an endless hole that keeps swallowing things, which maps clearly to a situation that consumes resources. This imagery and metaphorical extension are common cross-linguistically (e.g., Spanish 'pozo sin fondo'), so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily understand the expression.

Etymology

Bottomless pit comes from the image of a very deep hole: bottomless (no bottom) and pit (a hole) that keeps swallowing things. So, we call something a 'bottomless pit' when it seems to 'eat up money or energy without end'.