abyss means hell; the bottomless pit; primeval chaos; a confined subterranean ocean. It carries an Arena rating of 1969, earned across 79 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, abyss ranks #7 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #28 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #47 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #102 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
abyss is pronounced /əˈbɪs/.
Why “abyss” is a great word
An immeasurably deep or vast space, chasm, or void, evoking profound depth and boundlessness. 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”). Unlike a “chasm,” which is a physical fissure one might theoretically measure, or a “void,” which speaks chiefly of an emptiness to be filled, the abyss is defined by its vertiginous depth and its promise of the unknowable. It is the starless plunge beneath a ship’s keel in deepest ocean, the silent maw of a cave system descending beyond all light, and the mute, velvet dark beneath the hull on midnight water: not just depth, but depth that watches, and knows you fear it.
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.
noun
- Hell; the bottomless pit; primeval chaos; a confined subterranean ocean.e.g.“'You cannot enter here,' said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. 'Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!'” — 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 190:
- A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable; any void space.e.g.“Below is the deep abyss of the Lauterbrunnen valley, and at its head a stately semi-circle of mountains, with the pyramidal Lauterbrunnen Breithorn as the centre-piece.” — 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 752:
- Anything infinite, immeasurable, or profound.
- Moral depravity; vast intellectual or moral depth.e.g.“They fell into the abyss of drug addiction.”
- An impending catastrophic happening.
- The center of an escutcheon; fess point.
- The abyssal zone.
- A difference, especially a large difference, between groups.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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