crevasse

[kruh-vas]

noun

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

2. a breach in an embankment or levee.

verb (used with object)

crevassed, crevassing 

1. to fissure with crevasses.

crevasse

/ krɪˈvæs /

noun

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

2. a break in a river embankment

verb

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

crevasse

1. 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.

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

3. A wide crack or breach in the bank of a river. Crevasses usually form during floods.

4. ◆ 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.

Other Word Forms

• uncrevassed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of crevasse¹

1805–15, < French; crevice

Word History and Origins

Origin of crevasse¹

C19: from French: _crevice

Example Sentences

Suddenly he disappeared into a crevasse, leaving a hole behind him.

Read more on BBC

While repelling a mountain wall, Mr Huserka’s thread cracked and he fell into an ice crevasse, he partner said.

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Three more bodies were recovered from within the crevasses of the glacier.

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To Byatt, maternal mental health is not a gap but a crevasse.

Read more on Salon

There’s a point being made there: His wrinkles and crevasses echo the landscape, which has also been shaped by time and forces of nature.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• abyss 
• chasm 
• fissure