From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisha/the pit of somethinga/the pit of somethingliterarySITUATION a situation which makes you feel very bad Just thinking about the future plunged her into a pit of despair. → pit
Examples from the Corpus
a/the pit of something• Again the howl, as if one of Satan's demons was rising from the pit of Hell.• And in a pit of mud, what bubbles?• He was developing a peculiar feeling in the pit of his stomach; a feeling beyond sickness, beyond shock.• When that first cup of coffee was finished, a ball of fear nestled in the pit of my stomach.• The only real life, curiously enough, was underground, in the pit of hell itself.• So it is with the young prospects we throw into the pits of the courtroom.• This person accepted that life was a pit of evil, and they were fine about it. 