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abyss

Pronunciation: /əˈbɪs/

The English word “abyss” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Hell; the bottomless pit; primeval chaos; a confined subterranean ocean.
  2. A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable; any void space.
  3. Anything infinite, immeasurable, or profound.
  4. Moral depravity; vast intellectual or moral depth.
  5. An impending catastrophic happening.
  6. The center of an escutcheon; fess point.
  7. The abyssal zone.
  8. A difference, especially a large difference, between groups.

Etymology

From Middle English abissus, from Late Latin abyssus (“a bottomless gulf”), from Ancient Greek ἄβυσσος (ábussos, “bottomless”, from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + βυσσός (bussós, “deep place”)), from βυθός (buthós, “deep place”). Displaced native Old English neowolnes.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.