crevasse

[ kruh-vas ]

/ krəˈvæs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR crevasse ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a fissure, or deep cleft, in glacial ice, the earth's surface, etc.

a breach in an embankment or levee.

verb (used with object), cre·vassed, cre·vas·sing.

to fissure with crevasses.

RELATED WORDS

abyss, fissure, chasm, cleft, hole, gap

Nearby words

cretons, creuse, creutzfeldt-jakob disease, crevalle, crevalle jack, crevasse, creve coeur, crevice, crevicular, crew, crew chief

Origin of crevasse

1805–15, Americanism; < French; see crevice

Related forms

un·cre·vassed, adjective

Can be confused

crevice crevasse

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

Examples from the Web for crevasse

Some days, she felt as though glaciers were buckling around her and a crevasse yawned beneath her.
Breaking Mount Everest’s Glass Ceiling|Amanda Padoan, Peter Zuckerman|March 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
With the crawling, for instance, Bradey had been on top of a snow bridge that crossed a crevasse.
Breaking Mount Everest’s Glass Ceiling|Amanda Padoan, Peter Zuckerman|March 30, 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
She stopped a little while at the crevasse, I am told, but finding she could do no good, she went on.
Up the River|Oliver Optic

A crevasse was made in the levee above New Orleans flooding much of the city.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
We all knew what had happened -- one of the runners was in a crevasse.
The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2|Roald Amundsen
A glance convinced one and all of them that the crevasse was impassable.
The Plant Hunters|Mayne Reid
Eckenrod became sober as he studied the sharp walls of the crevasse.
The Cry at Midnight|Mildred A. Wirt

British Dictionary definitions for crevasse

crevasse

/ (krɪˈvæs) /

noun

a deep crack or fissure, esp in the ice of a glacier

US a break in a river embankment

verb

(tr) US to make a break or fissure in (a dyke, wall, etc)

Word Origin for crevasse

C19: from French: crevice

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

Science definitions for crevasse

crevasse

[ krĭ-văs′ ]

A deep fissure in a glacier or other body of ice. Crevasses are usually caused by differential movement of parts of the ice over an uneven topography.

A large, deep fissure in the Earth caused by an earthquake.

A wide crack or breach in the bank of a river. Crevasses usually form during floods.♦ The sediments that spill out through the crevasse and fan out along the external margin of the river's bank form a crevasse splay deposit.