Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Abyss |
AbyssNoun1. A bottomless gulf or pit. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "abyss" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Etymology: Abyss \A*byss"\, noun. [Latin expression abyssus bottomless gulf, from the Greek expression bottomless; 'a priv. depth, bottom.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of looking into an abyss, means that you will be confronted by threats of seizure of property, and that there will be quarrels and reproaches of a personal nature which will unfit you to meet the problems of life. For a woman to be looking into an abyss, foretells that she will burden herself with unwelcome cares. If she falls into the abyss her disappointment will be complete; but if she succeeds in crossing, or avoiding it, she will reinstate herself. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Geography | A clearly discernible depression of the ocean floor. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A. A very deep, unfathomable place. The term is used to refer to a particularly deep part of the ocean, or to any part below 3,000 fathoms (18,000 ft or 5.5 km). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
From the late popular abyssimus (superlative of Lon Latin abyssus) through the French abisme (i.e. abime) is derived the poetic form "abysm," pronounced as late as 1616 to rhyme with "time."
In oceanography, the adjective abyssal is used to refer to the deepest extent of the sea: hence "abyssal zone," "abyssal flora and fauna," "abyssal sediment". The form abysmal is not widely used in this context.
In heraldry, the abyss is the middle of an escutcheon.
In the Greek version of the Old Testament the word represents both the original chaos (Genesis i.2) and the Hebrew tehom ("a surging water-deep"), which is used also in apocalyptic and kabbalistic literature and in the New Testament for hell; the place of punishment; in the Revised (not the Authorized) version of the Bible "abyss" is generally used for this idea. Primarily in the Septuagint cosmography the word is applied both to the waters under the earth which originally covered it, and from which the springs and rivers are supplied and to the waters of the firmament which were regarded as closely connected with those below.
Derivatively, from the general idea of depth, it acquired the meaning of the place of the dead, though apparently never quite the same as Sheol. In the book of Revelation it is the prison of evil spirits whence they may occasionally be let loose, and where Satan is doomed to spend 1000 years.
Beneath the altar in the temple of Jerusalem there was believed to be a passage which led down to the abyss of the world, where the foundation-stone of the earth was laid. In rabbinical cosmography the abyss is a region of Gehenna situated below the ocean bed and divided into three or seven parts imposed one above the other. In the Kabbalah the abyss as the opening into the lower world is the abode of evil spirits, and corresponds to the opening of the abyss to the world above. In general the abyss is regarded vaguely as a place of indefinite extent, the abode of mystery and sorrow.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Abyss."
Synonym: AbyssSynonym: abysm (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Hell | Purgatory, limbo, gehenna, abyss. |
Interval | 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; (interjacence); void c. (absence); incompleteness. |
Space | Abyss; (interval); unlimited space; infinity; world; ubiquity; (presence); length and breadth of the land. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Abyss |
| English words defined with "abyss": A-, Abyme ♦ oceanic abyss. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "abyss": Ginnunga Gap ♦ Midgard Sormen ♦ Photobacterium profundum ♦ Y'mir. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "abyss": Abysm ♦ Voraginous. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Even if I wanted to go my schedule wouldn't allow it. Four o'clock, wallow in self pity; 4:30, stare into the abyss; 5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one. 5:30, jazzercize. (How the Grinch Stole Christmas; writing credit: Jeffrey Price) Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. (Wall Street; writing credit: Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone. Starring Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, and Martin Sheen as Carl Fox.) Raziel the Abyss has been unkind. (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver; writing credit: Amy Hennig) My chin is being swallowed up by the abyss once known as my neck (Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend; writing credit: T.G. Baker; David Manning) I have witnessed the horrors of the abyss. But you, Viconia you scare me. (Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn; writing credit: Vernica Suárez) | |
Lyrics | As deep as the abyss where the waters run ("Friends And Family"; performing artist: Trik Turner) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Edge of the Abyss (1915) Above the Abyss (1915) The Abyss (1914) Voyage Into the Abyss (2003) Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Hallaj | Oh you who have been removed from God in his solitude by the abyss of time, how can you expect to reach him without dying? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Cosette was measuring with the sad and simple sagacity of childhood the abyss which separated her from that doll. |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | An abyss of fortune or of temperament sundered him from them. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Abyss" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.06% of the time. "Abyss" is used about 136 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.06% | 132 | 27,743 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.47% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.74% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.74% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 136 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "abyss": abyss of ignorance ♦ oceanic abyss ♦ on the edge of the abyss. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "abyss": abyss-like. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
abyss | 402 |
ghost of the abyss | 273 |
club abyss | 110 |
abyss server web | 35 |
abyss ghost movie | 31 |
abyss creation | 28 |
abyss night club | 16 |
abyss ghost imax | 8 |
abyss club night teen | 8 |
abyss record | 8 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "abyss"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaan | afgrond (chasm, gulf, precipice), hel (hell). (various references) | |
Albanian | humnerë (chasm, gulf, precipice), hon (abysm, gully, precipice), greminë (bathos, deep, precipice), ferri (the pit). (various references) | |
Arabic | معظم الماء, هاوية (gulf), جهنم (gehenna, hell, hellfire, inferno, limbo, perdition), اللاتكون في ما قبل الخليقة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ад (grave, hell, inferno, pandemonium, tartarus), бездна (abysm, chasm, depths, gap, gulf, precipice, the deep), пъкъл (hell), пропаст (bathos, chasm, precipice), пропадам (collapse, fail, fall through, go, go to the dogs, go under, go wrong, lose). (various references) | |
Chinese | 淵 , 深渊 (Abyssal). (various references) | |
Czech | propast (abysm, chasm, divide, gulf, yawn), hlubina (deep, depth). (various references) | |
Danish | afgrund (chasm, gulf, precipice, sheer). (various references) | |
Dutch | afgrond (chasm, gulf, jaws, maw, precipice, sheer). (various references) | |
Ecuadorian Quechua | jaca. (various references) | |
Esperanto | abismo (chasm), profundegaĵo (gulf, precipice). (various references) | |
Faeroese | avgrund (chasm, gulf, precipice), helviti (hell). (various references) | |
Farsi | مغاک (Cavern), غوطه ورساختن (Engulf, Overwhelm, Plunge, Submerge), بی پایان (Eternal, Eternity, Incessant, Inconclusive, Unbound, Unending, Unfinished), بسیارعمیق . (various references) | |
Finnish | syvyys (deep, depth), syvyinen (deep, depth), kuilu (chasm, cleft, gap, gorge, shaft, tower, trunk), horna (the bottomless pit). (various references) | |
French | abysse (abyssal region), abîme. (various references) | |
Frisian | djipte (chasm, depth, gulf, precipice), ôfgrûn (chasm, gulf, precipice). (various references) | |
German | Abgrund (abysm, chasm, fovea, gulf, precipice, sheer). (various references) | |
Greek | άβυσσοσ. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מעמק (depth, profundity), מצול" (depth, pond), מצול (depth), ת"ום (chasm, depth, pit), שאול (borrowed, grave, hell, lent, loaned, lower world, pandemonium, underworld), אב"ון (destruction, doom, hell, perdition, ruin). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szakadék (beetling height, chasm, cleft, cove, deep, dell, drop-off, escarpment, gap, gourd, gulch, gulf, pit, precipice, ravine, scarp). (various references) | |
Icelandic | hyldýpi (chasm, gulf, precipice), gjá (chasm, gulf, precipice). (various references) | |
Indonesian | jurang (chasm, gulch, ravine). (various references) | |
Italian | abisso (abysm, chasm, deep, depth, fovea, gulf, pit, precipice), burrone (Canyon, chasm, coulee, gorge, gulch, gulf, gully, precipice, ravine). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 淵 (deep pool, the depths), 深潭 , 深淵 (ravine), 奈落の底 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ならくのそ", し"た" (ancient Indian name for China, fuel, heart, wood and charcoal), し"え" (deep, passion, profound, ravine, shrine gardens, unfathomable), ふち (allowance, arrangement, deep pool, edge, grouping, ignorance, incurability, ration, stipend, the depths). (various references) | |
Korean | 심연. (various references) | |
Manx | charvaal (chasm, divide, gulf). (various references) | |
Norwegian | avgrunn (gulf). (various references) | |
Papiamen | abismo (chasm, gulf, precipice), precipicio (chasm, gulf, precipice), fiernu (hell), fierno (hell). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | abyssay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | abismo (abysm, chasm, deep, depths, gulf, pit, precipice, yawn), precipício (chasm, gulf, Linnet, precipice, sheer). (various references) | |
Romanian | adâncime (bottom, deep, deepness, depth, height, horizon, pregnancy, profound, profoundness, profundity, wisdom), abis (abysm, chasm, gulf, hell, precipice, ravine, the bottomless pit), prãpastie (abysm, chaos, chasm, depth, disaster, gulf, hollow, precipice, ravine, scar, steep), noian (cloud, mountain, ocean, stack), infern (hell, inferno, the bottomless pit, the shades, underworld), haos primar, gol (bald, bare, bare-bodied, barren, blank, blankness, desert, deserted, empty, gap, genuine, hollow, hollowness, inanity, leafless, naked, nakedly, nude, out at, shallow, stripped, uncovered, vacancy, vacuum, void, waste, windy), genune (deep). (various references) | |
Russian | бездна (abysm, chasm, deep, gulf, precipice), пучина (abysm, abysses, vortex). (various references) | |
Scottish | aigeann (the deep). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | ambis, prvobitni haos (abysm), ponor (chasm, pit), pakao (hades, hell, inferno, perdition), jaz (chasm, gulf, hiatus, trough), bezdan (bottomless, chasm, deep, infinite, precipice, profound). (various references) | |
Spanish | abismo (abysm, chasm, cleft, coulee, couloir, crevice, deepness, gulf, hell, pit, precipice, Slough, steep), precipicio (chasm, cliff, drop, gulf, precipice), despeñadero (chasm, gulf, precipice). (various references) | |
Sranan | didibrikondre (hell). (various references) | |
Swedish | avgrund (chasm, gulf, hell, pit, precipice), svalg (chasm, fauces, pharynx, throat, yawn). (various references) | |
Turkish | uçurum (abysm, bluff, chasm, cliff, crag, gap, gulf, precipice, scarp, steep), derinlik (deep, deepness, depth, perspective, profoundness, profundity), boşluk (abysm, antrum, backlash, blank, blankness, cavity, chamber, chasm, clear, clearance, daylight, desideratum, emptiness, gap, gulf, hiatus, hole, hollow, hollowness, idleness, inanition, Lacuna, nothingness, nullity, separation, sinus, slack, slackness, space, vacancy, vacuity, vacuum, void, voidness). (various references) | |
Ukranian | безодня (abysm, chasm, deep, depth, precipice, profundity, yawn), пучина (abysm, gulf, profound), прірва (abysm, barathrum, gulf), первісний хаос. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | vực thẳm biển thẳm lòng trái đất, vực sâu, địa ngục (pandemonium). (various references) | |
Welsh | annwn (hell), agendor (gap, gulf), y dyfnder, mo+r-gerwyn (vortex, whirlpool). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | khaos. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | abyssi, abyssis, abysso, abyssos, abyssum, abyssus, chasma, gurges, profunda, profunde, profundi, profundis, profunditas, profundo, profundum, specubus, specum, vorago. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "abyss": abyssal, abysses. (additional references) | |
Words containing "abyss": hypabyssal, hypabyssally. (additional references) | |
| |
"Abyss" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abass, abayas, Abbiss, abbys, abess, abios, abis, abiss, abms, aboss, absus, absys, absyss, abycess, abyes, abyis, abys, abyse, alysis, amyses, Atys, Ayissi, obyss, Zbys. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "abyss" (pronounced ubi"s) |
| 3 | -b i" s | bis. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: bassy. | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-s-s-y" | |
-1 letter: abys, bass, bays, sabs, says. | |
-2 letters: abs, aby, ass, ays, bas, bay, bys, sab, say. | |
-3 letters: ab, as, ay, ba, by, ya. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-s-s-y" | |
+1 letter: abysms, bassly, brassy, bypass. | |
+2 letters: abyssal, abysses, embassy, sassaby, subways. | |
+3 letters: assembly, babysits, bashlyks, bioassay, bobstays, brassily, bypassed, bypasses, issuably, kissably, passably, passerby, paystubs, rosebays, sabayons, sickbays, soybeans, standbys, syllabus. | |
+4 letters: assumably, backstays, bioassays, boyarisms, bypassing, maybushes, myoblasts, passersby, swaybacks, sybarites, syllabics, syllables, syllabubs. | |
+5 letters: abstrusely, abstrusity, accessibly, bioassayed, blastocyst, bystanders, cymbalists, hypabyssal, hypoblasts, impassably, impassibly, reassembly, scabrously, seasonably, stylobates, subsidiary, supposably, sybaritism, syllabuses. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 62 79 73 73 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- -... -.--. ... ... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01100010 01111001 01110011 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A b y s s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0062 0079 0073 0073 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3568918585 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
