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)
the primal chaos before Creation.
the infernal regions; hell.
a subterranean ocean.
Abyssinia.
Abyssinian.
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
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English abissus, from Late Latin abyssus, from Greek ábyssos “bottomless,” equivalent to a- a- 6 + byssós “bottom of the sea”
The noun abyss refers to a deep void or chasm — either literal or figurative. Making a momentous life decision with great uncertainty, like enrolling in clown college, might feel like jumping into the abyss. Traditionally, the abyss referred to the "bottomless pit" of Hell. Now it might refer to either a literal chasm or a figurative one: "Thirty years ago, we peered into this abyss and pulled back just in time." The word is sometimes used to describe a wide difference between cultures or nations. Abyss comes from Greek: a- "without" + byssos, "depth, bottom." You may know the related adjective abysmal, which means "appallingly bad" — or "way down in the depths," as it were.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This whole Western Conference semifinal series against these defending champions has been a lose-lose proposition for the Lakers, who are now down 3-0 and staring into the elimination abyss in Game 4 on Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2026
But together, they sketch a country edging towards an abyss it has fallen into before and barely survived, observers warn.
From BBC ● May 3, 2026
"There is no such situation; instead, what we realise is that the country is going further into an abyss."
From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026
Elsewhere, “Navalny” filmmaker Daniel Roher also tries to look at the bright side in his latest, “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist,” but only after gazing into the abyss.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026
“If I were a sailor back in Columbus’s day, I’d be afraid we were going to drop off into an abyss and be eaten by a giant sea serpent.”
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
And while the play never explicitly explores its underlying theme—that music can help bridge the gaps, or the abysses, that divide people—the deft integration of story and song illuminates it naturally.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
The road hugged the high slopes, sometimes obscured in cloud, in sunny places allowing glimpses into lush valleys below, so deep they seemed like abysses.
From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2019
A liberal education is most students’ last chance to plumb society’s abysses with wise guidance.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2019
But in cases of “deep imaginative feeling” it was natural to behold the “never-ending growth of one colossal grandeur chasing and surmounting another, or of abysses that swallowed up abysses.”
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 10, 2016
“There are abysses which we dare not sound, and characters we desire not to fathom, for fear of finding in them too great darkness, too much horror.”
From Martyria or Andersonville Prison by Hamlin, Augustus C.
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.
