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• abyss
  abyss

  noun

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

  abbreviation

  Abyssinia.

abyss

¹ American  

[uh-bis] / əˈbɪs /

noun

• abysses
  plural

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

2. anything that seems to be without end or is impossible to measure, define, or comprehend.

   the abyss of their grief and sorrow.

3. (in ancient cosmogony)

   1. the primal chaos before Creation.

   2. the infernal regions; hell.

   3. a subterranean ocean.

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Abyss. ² American  

abbreviation

1. Abyssinia.

2. Abyssinian.

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abyss British  

/ əˈbɪs /

noun

1. a very deep or unfathomable gorge or chasm

2. anything that appears to be endless or immeasurably deep, such as time, despair, or shame

3. hell or the infernal regions conceived of as a bottomless pit

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• abysses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of abyss

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”

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abyss abysses

But I’m blown away by how “It Ends” reaches into the abyss of contemporary living and pulls out something tangible for us to chew on.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026

The Morandi Bridge in Genoa, part of a key highway connecting France and Italy, gave way in torrential rain on August 14, 2018 sending dozens of vehicles tumbling into the abyss.

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

“For hourly matching, the infrastructure doesn’t exist and the markets don’t exist either. Mandating something in that situation is just a leap into the abyss, which is why we have a progressive approach,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

"Each new format seems to bring us closer and closer to that abyss."

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

As Jefferson put it so graphically, their larger goal was “to sink federalism into an abyss from which there shall be no resurrection of it.”

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

At his debut press conference, he vowed to face down "multitudinous minefields and 30,000-metre abysses" in reforming China.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

“Bad Kind of Butterflies,” with a breathy vocal that tiptoes above furtive keyboards and deep bass abysses, is well aware of Billie Eilish.

From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 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

The cliffs grew steeper and more precipitous; often I had to pass along the edge of abysses that made me giddy even to look at; at last the very path came to an abrupt conclusion.

From Tales From the 'Phantasus', etc. of Ludwig Tieck by Ludwig Tieck

Related Words

• chasm
• crevasse
• depth
• void