Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Resembling an abyss in depth; unfathomable.
- adj. Very profound; limitless: abysmal misery.
- adj. Very bad: an abysmal performance.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to an abyss; bottomless; profound; fathomless; immeasurable.
- Specifically Pertaining to great depths in the ocean: thus, species of plants found only at great depths are called abysmal species, and also abyssal (which see).
Wiktionary
- adj. figuratively, colloquial Bottomless; extremely bad.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pertaining to, or resembling, an abyss; bottomless; unending; profound.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. resembling an abyss in depth; so deep as to be unmeasurable
- adj. very great; limitless.
Etymologies
- abysm + -al (Wiktionary)
Examples
“A University of Regina professor says the state of math education in schools can be traced to what he calls the "abysmal" training of university students studying to become teachers.”
“Acker, Ripple-Carpenter and the former sheepherder are working to bring attention to what they call abysmal treatment of the sheepherders.”
“G.M.B. Akash takes photos of children who live and work in abysmal conditions in Bangladesh:”
“At the same time, the American Left was in abysmal disarray.”
Caught in the Crossfire: Adrian Scott and the Politics of Americanism in 1940s Hollywood
“In the 1930s people around him lived in abysmal poverty, most of them eating less than one rice - gruel meal a day.”
“Wallace doesn't handle the ball well enough to turn it over much, but most people know that he can't hit treys and is abysmal from the stripe (42%) and not great from the floor (45%).”
“This doesn't go, of course, for the mass of the people, living in abysmal ignorance and grinding poverty, their comprehension barely extending to the frontier.”
“Former franchisee Brumagin also is skeptical and says introducing somewhat fancier, higher-priced food could go the way of a healthy menu experiment in the mid-'90s that he called an "abysmal failure.”
“Some cleanup will probably take place tonight, my front hall and office are in abysmal condition just now because I’ve been lazy, lost some sleep, and been focused on other things.”
“The water supply and sanitation situation around the world can only be described as abysmal.”
The Huffington Post: H. David Nahai: The Global Water Crisis
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abysmal’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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macabre
words associated with the macabre & horror.
( open list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.co...ghastly, grisly, culeus, silly, gruesome, horrid, morbid, angelic, shocking, hideous, ghoulish, frightful and 136 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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mots justes
No true synonyms, no other word will do.
dysphemism, nyehre, conflate, onomatopœic, galumph, zeitgeist, mercenary, theomeny, git, snarky, sass, smarmy and 46 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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September Words-11337
During the month of September, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has...
flabbergasted, discombobulated, inclination, serendipity, savvy, profound, incarnation, myriad, confiscate, audacity, deciduous, adieu and 79 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 215 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
words I love to use
kerfuffle, smarmy, sketchy, grim, wheedle, piffle, prattle, loggerheads, snarky, piddling, nix, caterwaul and 90 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for abysmal.
fbharjo a gaufres et gouffres layout. Feb 18, 2013
pradyumnaojha Better vocabulary and good strategy helps in avoiding an absymal score in SAT. Feb 17, 2013
Alexis Perez To deep to be measured/ Sentence- That movie was an abysmal failure. (Newbury House Dictionary) Sep 25, 2010