abyss

[ uh-bis ]

/ əˈbɪs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR abyss ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a deep, immeasurable space, gulf, or cavity; vast chasm.

anything profound, unfathomable, or infinite: the abyss of time.

(in ancient cosmogony)

the primal chaos before Creation.
the infernal regions; hell.
a subterranean ocean.

Nearby words

Origin of abyss

1350–1400; earlier abisse, Middle English abissus < Late Latin abyssus < Greek ábyssos bottomless, equivalent to a- a-⁶ + byssós bottom of the sea

Abyss.

Abyssinia.

Abyssinian.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for abyss

But, Ali warns all that can change quickly if Anbar continues to crumble, “right now, we are looking into the Abyss.”
Iraqis Swear: Baghdad Airport is Safe From ISIS|Susannah George|October 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And my beloved Zimbabwe has sunk from a promising beacon into an abyss of greed and dictatorship.
How I Got Addicted to Africa (and Wrote a Thriller About It)|Todd Moss|September 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But when patients open their jaws, he totters on the abyss and gets no steadying hand from God.
Joshua Ferris’s New Novel Chronicles an Existential Dentist in Despair|Tom LeClair|May 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And when I made the Abyss, which had a giant wave scene in it, those stopped.
James Cameron on How to Find Flight MH370, Climate Change, Leonardo DiCaprio, and More|Marlow Stern|April 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST

At one point he fell down a crevasse and was left dangling in the abyss from a rope, up which he dragged his disintegrating body.
Six Greatest Acts of Human Endurance|Nico Hines|November 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But a few deer and mussels and a half dozen hills of squashes could not fill the abyss of the Indian appetite.
Hunting in Many Lands|Various
He seemed to see two genii seeking, the one to drag him towards heaven and the other towards the abyss.
The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851|Various
It is never too late to draw back from such an abyss of shame.
The Laughing Cavalier|Baroness Orczy
And the horror of that abyss into which he looked, flashing from his mind to my own, left me silent and helpless before him.
Cecilia de Nol|Lanoe Falconer
"We all have our pastimes," went on the marquis, deepening the abyss into which he was finally to fall.
The Grey Cloak|Harold MacGrath

British Dictionary definitions for abyss

abyss

/ (əˈbɪs) /

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

Word Origin for abyss

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

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

Word Origin and History for abyss

abyss

late 14c., earlier abime (c.1300, from a form in Old French), from Late Latin abyssus "bottomless pit," from Greek abyssos (limne) "bottomless (pool)," from a- "without" (see a- (2)) + byssos "bottom," possibly related to bathos "depth."

abyss

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of abyss

Abyss.

Examples from the Web for abyss

abyss

noun

Word Origin for abyss

abyss