ABYSS Definition & Meaning

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abyss

[uh-bis]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a deep, immeasurable space, gulf, or cavity; vast chasm.
anything that seems to be without end or is impossible to measure, define, or comprehend.
the abyss of their grief and sorrow.
(in ancient cosmogony)
1. the primal chaos before Creation.
2. the infernal regions; hell.
3. a subterranean ocean.

Abyss.

abbreviation

Abyssinia.
Abyssinian.

abyss

/ əˈ��ɪ�� /

noun

a very deep or unfathomable gorge or chasm
anything that appears to be endless or immeasurably deep, such as time, despair, or shame
hell or the infernal regions conceived of as a bottomless pit

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of abyss¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English abissus, from Late Latin abyssus, from Greek á��ǲ� “bottomless,” equivalent to a- a- ⁶ + ��ó�� “bottom of the sea”

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of abyss¹

C16: via Late Latin from Greek abussos bottomless (as in the phrase abussos limnē bottomless lake), from _a- ¹ + bussos depth

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

For his part, Sir Keir said the Conservatives had "run out of road", were in "decline" and "sliding into the abyss".

From

“We burn with desire to find solid ground,” Pascal wrote more than three hundred years ago, “but our whole groundwork cracks, and the earth opens to abysses.”

From

In the name of the people of the abyss, Earnest claims “all the mines, and railroads, and factories, and banks and stores. That is the revolution. It is truly perilous.”

From

I’d say these are the liminal times, when it still may be possible to pull the United States back from the abyss.

From

Regardless of the AfD's election success, she said the founding fathers of Germany's post-war constitution had sought to ensure the country would not be plunged back into the abyss.

From

Related 51�Թ�s

chasm��
crevasse��
depth��
void��

abysmal abyssal

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