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abysm

American  
[uh-biz-uhm] / əˈbɪz əm /

noun

  1. an abyss.


abysm British  
/ əˈbɪzəm /

noun

  1. an archaic word for abyss

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of abysm

1250–1300; Middle English abi ( s ) me < Middle French abisme < Vulgar Latin *abyssimus, a neologistic pseudo-superlative of Late Latin abyssus abyss

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.

And then, ignoring the dizzying abysm behind us, the head told us the story of St Hugh, as depicted there in front of us in the stained glass.

From BBC • Dec. 23, 2014

As if to answer Prospero's question, "What seest thou else in the dark backward and abysm of time?"

From Time Magazine Archive

As against Europe's dark backward and abysm of wars and revolutions, America was still a New World with its own democratic New Order still evolving.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some time, some place in the dark backward and abysm of time, the first "living" thing was created, and evolution began.

From Time Magazine Archive

Along the gloomy avenue of death To seek the dread abysm of Urugal, In everlasting Dark whence none returns, Ishtar, the Moon-god's daughter, made resolve, And that way, sick with sorrow, turned her face.

From Chaldea From the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria by Ragozin, Zénaïde A. (Zénaïde Alexeïevna)