abyss
pronunciation
How to pronounce abyss in British English:
UK [əˈbɪs]
How to pronounce abyss in American English:
US [əˈbɪs]
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- Noun:
- a bottomless gulf or pit; any unfathomable (or apparently unfathomable) cavity or chasm or void extending below (often used figuratively)
Word Origin
- abyss
- abyss: [16] English borrowed abyss from late Latin abyssus, which in turn derived from Greek ábussos. This was an adjective meaning ‘bottomless’, from a- ‘not’ and bussós ‘bottom’, a dialectal variant of buthós (which is related to bathys ‘deep’, the source of English bathyscape). In Greek the adjective was used in the phrase ábussos limnē ‘bottomless lake’, but only the adjective was borrowed into Latin, bringing with it the meaning of the noun as well.In medieval times, a variant form arose in Latin – abysmus. It incorporated the Greek suffix -ismós (English -ism). It is the source of French abîme, and was borrowed into English in the 13th century as abysm (whence the 19th-century derivative abysmal). It began to be ousted by abyss in the 16th century, however, and now has a distinctly archaic air.
- abyss (n.)
- late 14c., earlier abime (c. 1300, from a form in Old French), from Late Latin abyssus "bottomless pit," from Greek abyssos (limne) "bottomless (pool)," from a- "without" (see a- (2)) + byssos "bottom," possibly related to bathos "depth."
Example
- 1. But now we are heading towards the abyss .
- 2. Can europe turn back from the abyss ?
- 3. The financial system plunged into an abyss , dragging the economy behind it .
- 4. His terrible romantic fascination with the abyss loads his paintings with tragic power .
- 5. But stocks at one point priced in a headlong fall into the abyss .