Abyss

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: a=byss

CIDE DICTIONARY

Abyss, n. [L. abyssus a bottomless gulf, fr. Gr. bottomless; 'a priv. + depth, bottom.].

•  A bottomless or unfathomed depth, gulf, or chasm; hence, any deep, immeasurable, and, specifically, hell, or the bottomless pit.  [1913 Webster]

  "Ye powers and spirits of this nethermost abyss."  [1913 Webster]

  "The throne is darkness, in the abyss of light."  [1913 Webster]
•  Infinite time; a vast intellectual or moral depth.  [1913 Webster]

  "The abysses of metaphysical theology."  [1913 Webster]

  "In unfathomable abysses of disgrace."  [1913 Webster]
•  The center of an escutcheon.  [1913 Webster]

  " This word, in its leading uses, is associated with the cosmological notions of the Hebrews, having reference to a supposed illimitable mass of waters from which our earth sprung, and beneath whose profound depths the wicked were punished."  Encyc. Brit.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Abyss, n.
1 a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm.
2 a an immeasurable depth (abyss of despair). b a catastrophic situation as contemplated or feared (his loss brought him a step nearer the abyss).
3 (prec. by the) primal chaos, hell.

Etymology

ME f. LL abyssus f. Gk abussos bottomless (as A-(1), bussos depth)

THESAURUS

Abyss

Bassalia, Gehenna, Sheol, Tophet, abysm, abyssal zone, arroyo, bathyal zone, benthos, bottom waters, bottomless depths, box canyon, breach, break, canyon, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, cleft, cleuch, clough, col, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crater, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm, deep, deepness, defile, dell, depth, dig, diggings, dike, ditch, donga, draw, excavation, fault, fissure, flaw, flume, fracture, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gorge, groove, ground, gulch, gulf, gully, hades, hole, hollow, incision, inferno, inner space, joint, kloof, leak, mine, moat, netherworld, notch, nullah, ocean bottom, ocean depths, ocean floor, opening, pass, passage, pelagic zone, perdition, pit, profoundness, profundity, quarry, ravine, rent, rift, rime, rupture, scissure, seam, shaft, slit, slot, split, the deep, the deep sea, the deeps, the depths, trench, underworld, valley, void, wadi, well, workings, yawning abyss

ROGET THESAURUS

Abyss

Hell

N hell, bottomless pit, place of torment, habitation of fallen angels, Pandemonium, Abaddon, Domdaniel, jahannan, sheol, hell fire, everlasting fire, everlasting torment, eternal damnation, lake of fire and brimstone, fire that is never quenched, worm that never dies, purgatory, limbo, gehenna, abyss, Tartarus, Hades, Avernus, Styx, Stygian creek, pit of Acheron, Cocytus, infernal regions, inferno, shades below, realms of Pluto, Pluto, Rhadamanthus, Erebus, Tophet, hellish, infernal, stygian, dies irae dies illa, the hue of dungeons and the scowl of night.

Space

N space, extension, extent, superficial extent, expanse, stretch, hyperspace, room, scope, range, field, way, expansion, compass, sweep, swing, spread, dimension, length, distance, size, volume, hypervolume, latitude, play, leeway, purchase, tolerance, room for maneuver, spare room, elbow room, house room, stowage, roomage, margin, opening, sphere, arena, open space, free space, void, waste, wildness, wilderness, moor, moorland, campagna, abyss, unlimited space, infinity, world, ubiquity, length and breadth of the land, proportions, acreage, acres, acres and perches, roods and perches, hectares, square miles, square inches, square yards, square centimeters, square meters, yards (clothing), ares, arpents, spacious, roomy, extensive, expansive, capacious, ample, widespread, vast, world-wide, uncircumscribed, boundless, shoreless, trackless, pathless, extended, extensively, wherever, everywhere, far and near, far and wide, right and left, all over, all the world over, throughout the world, throughout the length and breadth of the land, under the sun, in every quarter, in all quarters, in all lands, here there and everywhere, from pole to pole, from China to Peru, from Indus to the pole, from Dan to Beersheba, from end to end, on the face of the earth, in the wide world, from all points of the compass, to the four winds, to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Interval

N interval, interspace, separation, break, gap, opening, hole, chasm, hiatus, caesura, interruption, interregnum, interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha, gorge, defile, ravine, canon, crevasse, abyss, abysm, gulf, inlet, frith, strait, gully, pass, furrow, abra, barranca, barranco, clove, gulch, notch, yawning gulf, hiatus maxime, hiatus valde deflendus, parenthesis, void, incompleteness, period, interim (time), with an interval, far between, breachy, rimose, rimulose, at intervals, longo intervallo.