crevasse

noun

cre·​vasse kri-ˈvas 

1

: a breach in a levee

2

: a deep crevice or fissure (as in a glacier or the earth)

The climber narrowly missed slipping into a crevasse.

Did you know?

What's the difference between a crevice and a crevasse?

Crevice and crevasse are very similar words: both come from Old French crever "to break or burst" and both refer to an opening of some kind. In fact, you can say that the only notable distinction between the two is the size of the openings they denote—and that one of them—crevice—is far more common than the other.

A crevice is a narrow opening resulting from a split or crack. In nature, crevices exist mostly in rocks and cliffs, but writers sometimes use the word for similar openings found in other materials, as in "crumbs in the crevices of the cushion." The word also is used metaphorically, as in "the cracks and crevices of memory."

Crevasse refers to a deep hole or fissure in a glacier or in the earth. In most instances, the word appears with enough context that the depth of the opening is easy enough to figure out, as in "a climber who fell 30 feet into a crevasse."

You'll sometimes find crevice used where crevasse is expected—probably because it's the word people are more familiar with. One way to remember the distinction between crevice and crevasse is that the i in crevice, the smaller hole, is a thinner letter than a in crevasse, the larger hole. Or, should you step into a crevasse, perhaps you'll have time for a lot of "Ahhhs"?

Examples of crevasse in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fellow Saturnian moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa — both thought to host oceans — are covered with a network of cracks and crevasses in their surface, signs that their volumes changed as ice melted into water. —Nola Taylor Tillman, Space.com, 10 Oct. 2025

Throughout the course, climbers can see the 2,303-foot-high Triumvirate Glacier, with all its moraines and otherworldly blue crevasses, as well as the Tordrillo Mountains, which include Mount Spurr, an active volcano that last erupted in 1992. —AFAR Media, 30 Sep. 2025

There are so many rabbit holes to go down, so many dark crevasses of the internet, of the show, of these women’s past that are better left unexplored. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025

With a parachute billowing behind him, Miura makes a couple of pizza turns on the sheer and horribly icy Lhotse Face before catching an edge and then tumbling several thousand feet to the bank of a crevasse. —Outside, 25 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

French, from Old French crevace — see crevice

First Known Use

1813, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for crevasse

• alas
• amass
• bromegrass
• bypass
• chagas
• crabgrass
• eelgrass
• eyeglass
• groundmass
• harass
• impasse
• jackass

Kids Definition

crevasse

noun

cre·​vasse kri-ˈvas 

: a deep crevice (as in a glacier)