Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An immeasurably deep chasm, depth, or void: "lost in the vast abysses of space and time” ( Loren Eiseley).
- n. The primeval chaos out of which it was believed that the earth and sky were formed.
- n. The abode of evil spirits; hell.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A bottomless gulf; any deep, immeasurable space; anything profound and unfathomable, whether literally or figuratively; specifically, hell; the bottomless pit.
- n. In heraldry, the center of an escutcheon; the fesse-point.
- To engulf.
Wiktionary
- n. Moral depravity; vast intellectual or moral depth.
- n. An impending catastrophic happening.
- n. heraldry The center of an escutcheon.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.
- n. Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth.
- n. (Her.) The center of an escutcheon.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a bottomless gulf or pit; any unfathomable (or apparently unfathomable) cavity or chasm or void extending below (often used figuratively)
Etymologies
- Middle English abissus, from Late Latin abyssus, from Greek abussos, bottomless : a-, without; see a-1 + bussos, bottom. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I know the abyss is there, but the picket fence stops me stumbling in by accident.”
“Thu 10/29/09 3: 29 PM the abyss is the most UNDERRATED of his movies. its fabulous but no one ever remembers it”
“His body language and choice of words—he used the word "abyss" four times—betrayed a man humbled by a difficult struggle.”
“Drawing them back from the abyss is the real challenge that confronts us.”
“However, you cannot invariably sell that to the middle-class or lower-class Americans, and so the types instead, write about how all we need to do to get out of the abyss is become a more educated society.”
“Now, if the abyss is scary, what is scarier, what generates it, what you will find in it, or what comes from it?”
“But staying in the real estate abyss is like throwing money down a rat hole.”
I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore! | Johnny B. Truant
“Gaze into the abyss from the comfort of your own h ...”
“It's a bumpy, slow ride, and the visitor won't forget the final stretch, when the distance between the bus 'wheels and a great, yawning abyss is a matter of inches.”
“And don't you think the fear of falling back down into that abyss is one of the primary, albeit ineffective, motivators of humankind?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abyss’.
-
GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
-
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...
-
EN - pronunciation fun
All words of the poem
The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse <...abyss, ache, actual, advice, aerie, age, ague, aisles, alas, alien, alive, allowed and 406 more...
-
RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
-
man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1832 more...
-
5000 FREE SAT Words
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 229 more...
-
Holli
Cancer, Mercury, water, moon, dark, emotion, nostalgia, angst, brooding, isolation, shadow, corner and 145 more...
-
dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
-
fifi
verbs Adj Adv noun
indulge, convene, solve, dissolve, prospect, prospective, allege, resolve, accountable, administration, amid, agenda and 407 more...
-
words I love to use
kerfuffle, smarmy, sketchy, grim, wheedle, piffle, prattle, loggerheads, snarky, piddling, nix, caterwaul and 90 more...
-
SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
-
Cage
cage, depart, nothing, void, strain, unconscious, never, alone, floor, God, hell, winter and 219 more...
-
12
abduct, abode, abyss, arbitrate, attribute, capricious, compromise, devout, distraught
-
Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for abyss.
bilby "He felt in his pockets. All he found was money, nothing smaller than a thousand-kroner note. He gave them that.
'I mustn't take,' said the boy. 'That's what my mother says.'
Kasper stood up.
'From Santa Claus,' he said, 'you can take anything. Tell your mother that. Say that Santa is going to come and nibble her earlobe.'
'What about my father?'
Kasper began heading down toward the earth's surface.
'Santa Claus will come and nibble him as well.'
'I've got a dog too,' said the little girl hopefully.
'I'm sorry,' said Kasper. 'Even Santa Claus has to set limits.'
'You don't talk very nice,' said the girl.
Kasper turned toward her.
'For children to know where the abyss is, and be careful,' he said, 'you need to take them all the way out and show them the edge.'"
- 'The Quiet Girl', Peter Høeg. Mar 18, 2008
mikeropology A loanword from Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumerian language). Jan 31, 2008
andrew.simone The sequel to the film Abyss: the Son of Abyss. Dec 13, 2006