abysmal
Americanadjective
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of or like an abyss; immeasurably deep or great.
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extremely or hopelessly bad or severe.
abysmal ignorance; abysmal poverty.
adjective
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immeasurable; very great
abysmal stupidity
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informal extremely bad
an abysmal film
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of abysmal
Explanation
If you want to say something is really, really bad — then call it abysmal. If one person shows up to your party, well then that is an abysmal turnout. The 1958 Ford Edsel? An abysmal failure. When someone describes the hole you just dug as abysmal, you may not know whether to take it as positive or negative feedback. That's because starting in the 1650s, abysmal simply meant “resembling an abyss in depth.” By that definition you've just received a compliment on your deep digging skills. But since the early twentieth century, abysmal has been more commonly used to identify something as "extremely bad." So it's more likely that your hole has just been insulted.
Vocabulary lists containing abysmal
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Six Crimson Cranes
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Or, at least that’s how I’d pitch a meta horror-thriller about watching Netflix’s abysmal new horror-thriller, “The Whisper Man,” a film so painfully, obviously bad that even talking about how terrible it is seems redundant.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
The right-hander brought the urgency to the mound that the Dodgers were missing during an abysmal 5-11 stretch that ended with a sweep against the Colorado Rockies this week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
It’s the dog days of summer, with beastly heat, no proper holidays, and an abysmal history.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2026
Chief executive Kevin Craven described the 12-month gap between the SDR and the DIP as "pretty abysmal".
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
