Definition of ABYSS

Examples of abyss in a Sentence

looking down at the dark ocean from the ship's rail, the cruise passenger felt as though he was staring into an abyss

Recent Examples on the Web

Though employment rates have been climbing back from the abyss, young men never caught up again. — Jeanna Smialek, The Seattle Times, "Millennial men leave perplexing hole in hot US job market," 20 Nov. 2018 Manager Buck Showalter sees the fact that some faces might change, combined with the simple law of averages bringing some of their strugglers back from the abyss, as a reason to look forward with hope for improvement. — Jon Meoli, baltimoresun.com, "Orioles' 58-loss first half on pace with the worst teams in modern baseball," 30 June 2018 James has dragged the weakest Cavaliers team yet to this year’s showdown with the Warriors, and now it is perched at the edge of defeat’s abyss, down three games to none. — Michael Powell, New York Times, "LeBron James Delivered. Now Does He Exit?," 7 June 2018 Nazaré Canyon, the underwater abyss, is 130 miles long and as deep as 16,000 feet below the ocean’s surface in some areas. — Elaina Zachos, National Geographic, "See What It's Like to Ride the Tallest Wave Ever Surfed," 30 Apr. 2018 The characters are compelling: Is the president a maniacal protectionist, ready to plunge the world into the abyss of a trade war – or a shrewd negotiator who uses unpredictability to keep his opponents off-balance? — Michael Holtz, The Christian Science Monitor, "US versus China: How a tussle for advantage fuels risk of a trade war," 12 Apr. 2018 Rosetta followed its comet around the sun until it was headed back out to the abyss of the deep solar system. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "The Rosetta Comet-Chaser's Insanely Delicate Approach, Explained," 23 Dec. 2016 As a result, Bartley never truly conveys the impact of Blanche's descent into the moral abyss that leads her to New Orleans and her eventual breakdown. — Theodore P. Mahne, NOLA.com, "Not much to desire as miscasting, overacting derail Le Petit's 'Streetcar'," 10 Dec. 2017 This as this story continues it slowly slide into the abyss as the dirty politics of our time are now giving us a crystal clear example of just how bad things really are. — Fox News, "Haley on the New York Times, Kavanaugh and US foreign policy," 20 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abyss.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for abyss

borrowed from Late Latin abyssus, borrowed from Greek ábyssos "bottomless, unfathomable, (as noun) bottomless gulf," from a- a- entry 2 + byssós "depth of the sea," probably going back to *byth-yos, derivative of bythós "depth, deepest part, bottom," probably of pre-Greek substratal origin

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