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

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 The freewheeling low-stakes website for throwing bad jokes into the abyss has transformed into an enormous public forum inhabited by just about everyone who's anyone, plus a legion of the worst people on the planet. — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, "How to Delete All Your Tweets," 2 Aug. 2018 Rather, the point is that, absent drastic policy changes, the fiscal abyss is a reality and will probably affect Germany’s financial ability and political willingness to subsidize the rest of the eurozone. — Joseph C. Sternberg, WSJ, "Don’t Count on an Aging Germany to Save the Euro," 21 June 2018 Haddish is the first person on the boat to spot the 40-foot gray mass emerging from the abyss of Santa Monica Bay. — Caity Weaver, GQ, "There's Something Funny About Tiffany Haddish," 26 Mar. 2018 Two years, one celebrated (if also maudlin) atonement album, and half a joint tour later, the first track of the Carters’ new collaborative album finds the couple once again submerged in the profitable abyss of their own love. — Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, "Do Beyoncé Fans Have to Forgive Jay-Z?," 18 June 2018 The Proposal seems to travel in the abyss of reality show concepts, with zero self-awareness about itself. — Meagan Fredette, refinery29.com, "This Show From The Bachelor’s Creators May Be The ScariestThing You Watch All Summer," 28 May 2018 The accounts start to diverge as the film shows Houston falling into a dark abyss of drug abuse with Brown, and Macdonald simply lets the subjects state their truth. — Katie Walsh, Detroit Free Press, "Review: Whitney Houston doc is raw and revealing," 5 July 2018 The beaming white bathroom offers plush robes and Guerlain toiletries and a cavernous bathtub that sinks down into a marble abyss. — Natalie B. Compton, GQ, "The Best Way to Do Paris Is the Old Fashioned Way," 3 Apr. 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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