hollow shell
Void within walls
A hollow shell describes something that retains only its outer form while lacking substance within.
The phrase often appears figuratively for institutions, relationships, or people that have lost their essential character: The company had become a hollow shell of its former self.
A person described this way seems emptied of vitality or emotion: After the divorce, he felt like a hollow shell.
- huskDry seed covering
- emptyHolding nothing inside
- empty vesselContainer lacking contents
- casingEnclosing cover or frame
- voidWithout legal effect
carapace · exoskeleton · shed skin · pod · cavity · outer · outer layer · abandoned · crust · cocoon · molt · shed · fragile · brittle · paper thin · egg · hull · rind
- emptinessemptiness, void, vacuum, nothingness, blank
- suffering metaphorsdrowning, bottomless pit, chains, cage, trapped
- nothingnessnothing, zero, nil, none, nada
- abandonedabandoned, abandoned building, abandoned factory, abandoned hospital, abandoned mine
hollow shellgenuine article
Authentic original item
the real thing · beating heart · real deal · substance · living soul
hollow, shell, hollows, hollowed, hollowing, hollowness, hollowly, shells, shelled