Definition

Noun: 1. A series of connected underground tunnels occupied by rabbits: A network of burrows dug by a colony of rabbits as their dwelling place. 2. An overcrowded residential area: A metaphor for a place, typically a building or complex of buildings, that is densely populated, confusing, and maze-like in its layout.

Usage Examples

• Literal Meaning:
  • The farmer was trying to control the rabbit population by filling in the rabbit warren near the field.
  • We found a large rabbit warren at the edge of the woods.
• Metaphorical Meaning:
  • The old tenement building was a rabbit warren of tiny, interconnected apartments.
  • The bureaucratic office was a rabbit warren of narrow corridors and identical doors.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used pejoratively in its metaphorical sense to criticize poor urban planning or cramped living conditions.
• It can describe any complex, confusing, and densely packed system, such as a labyrinthine legal process or a convoluted computer network.

Variants and Related Words

• Warren (noun): Can be used alone with the same two meanings (a rabbit warren; a densely populated maze). "Warren" is the more general term.
• Burrow (noun): A single hole or tunnel dug by a small animal. A warren is a network of burrows.

Synonyms

• For the literal meaning: burrow network, rabbit hole (though this typically refers to a single entrance).
• For the metaphorical meaning: labyrinth, maze, hive, warren, overcrowded slum, tenement.

Related Idioms

• To live like rabbits in a warren: To live in extremely cramped and overcrowded conditions.
  • The refugees were forced to live like rabbits in a warren until proper housing could be found.

Noun

1. a series of connected underground tunnels occupied by rabbits
2. an overcrowded residential area