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Glite Dictionary
parking crater

parking crater

8.1
A large hole in a parking area that can damage tires
  • noun
  • /ˈpɑrkɪŋ ˈkreɪtər/
  • Informal
translation icon : cráter de estacionamiento
  • The city had to close half the lot to fix a massive parking crater near the building.

Examples

  • Be careful not to damage your tires on that parking crater by the entrance.

  • The parking crater nearly swallowed my tire.

  • After the winter snow melted, a new parking crater appeared next to my usual spot.

  • Watch out for that parking crater!

  • After the winter snow melted, a new parking crater appeared next to my usual spot.

  • Be careful not to damage your tires on that parking crater by the entrance.

  • The city had to close half the lot to fix a massive parking crater near the building.

Synonyms

crater
vsparking crater
109 3.2

A large bowl-shaped hole in the ground made by a meteor or volcano

is a manmade car lot road hole not formed by natural impact or volcano
pothole
vsparking crater
48 2.1

A hole in a road that can damage cars

is a larger version occurring in car lots and joked as meteor impact
chuckhole
vsparking crater
  • Archaic
8.8

A deep hole in the road that can damage cars

is larger and more notable in car lots often compared to an impact

How Big

sinkhole
18 5.7
parking crater
  • Informal
8.1
pothole
48 2.1

Surface Forms

parking crater singular
parking craters plural

Morphology

parking + crater

The compound 'parking crater' composes straightforwardly from 'parking' (parking area) + 'crater' (bowl-shaped depression), so the sense 'a large pothole or depression in a parking area' is directly derivable. The joking comparison to a meteorite impact is a simple, transparent metaphor and does not obscure the compositional meaning, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand it.

Etymology

Parking crater comes from the image of a deep hole in a parking lot that looks like a meteor crater, where cars and tires could be damaged. So, it means 'a very large pothole in a parking area'.