tunnel

UK: /ˈtʌn^əl/ US: /ˈtʌnəl/ ,(tun′l)

Inflections of 'tunnel' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

When both "l" and "ll" forms exist, spellings with a double "l" are correct, but rare, in US English, while those with a single "l" are not correct in UK English.

tunnels

v 3rd person singular

tunnelling

v pres p (Mainly UK)

tunneling

v pres p (US)

tunnelled

v past (Mainly UK)

tunneled

v past (US)

tunnelled

v past p (Mainly UK)

tunneled

v past p (US)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

tun•nel /ˈtʌnəl/   n., v., -neled, -nel•ing or ([esp. Brit.)] -nelled, -nel•ling. 
n. [countable]

1. Civil Engineering an underground passage, esp. one for trains or automobiles:
   Planning was underway to build a tunnel under the English Channel.

v. 

2. Civil Engineering to make or dig out (a tunnel ) through or under (something): [~ + object]
   to tunnel one's way out of prison.
   [no object]
   to tunnel out of prison.

tun•nel•er, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

tun•nel  (tun′l), n., v., -neled, -nel•ing or (esp. Brit.) -nelled, -nel•ling. 
n. 

1. Civil Engineering an underground passage.
2. Civil Engineering a passageway, as for trains or automobiles, through or under an obstruction, as a city, mountain, river, harbor, or the like.
3. Mining an approximately horizontal gallery or corridor in a mine.
4. Zoology the burrow of an animal.
5. Slang Terms [Dial.] a funnel.

v.t. 

6. Civil Engineering to construct a passageway through or under:
   to tunnel a mountain.
7. Civil Engineering to make or excavate (a tunnel or underground passage):
   to tunnel a passage under a river.
8. to move or proceed by or as if by boring a tunnel:
   The river tunneled its way through the mountain.
9. Civil Engineering to pierce or hollow out, as with tunnels.

v.i. 

10. Civil Engineering to make a tunnel or tunnels:
    to tunnel through the Alps.

• Middle French tonele, tonnelle funnel-shaped net, feminine of tonnel cask, diminutive of tonne tun; see -elle
• late Middle English tonel (noun, nominal) 1400–50

tun′nel•er*  [esp. Brit.,] tun′nel•ler, n. 
tun′nel•like′, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

tunnel / ˈtʌn^əl/ noun

1. an underground passageway, esp one for trains or cars that passes under a mountain, river, or a congested urban area
2. any passage or channel through or under something
3. a dialect word for funnel

verb ( -nels, -nelling, -nelled) ( -nels, -neling, -neled)

1. (transitive) to make or force (a way) through or under (something): to tunnel a hole in the wall, to tunnel the cliff
2. (intr; followed by through, under, etc) to make or force a way (through or under something)

Etymology: 15th Century: from Old French tonel cask, from tonne tun, from Medieval Latin tonna barrel, of Celtic origin

ˈtunneller, ˈtunneler noun