gulf

1 a part of a body of water that extends beyond the general shoreline we dipped our feet in the warm waters of the gulf Synonyms arm, bay, bight, cove, creek [chiefly British], embayment, estuary, firth, fjord (also fiord), inlet, loch [Scottish] Related Words harbor, port, road(s), roadstead; narrow, sound, strait; bayou; backwater, slough (also slew or slue)

2 an immeasurable depth or space the great gulf of time and space that separates us from the first inhabitants of North America Synonyms abysm, chasm, deep, abyss, oceanRelated Words cleft, crevasse, crevice, fissure; cavern, hole, hollow, pit; breadth, expanse, extent, reach, spread, stretch; black hole, emptiness, nothingness, vacancy, vacuity, vacuum, void

3 a narrow opening between hillsides or mountains that can be used for passage the gulf was too wide to cross, so we had to hike down into it and go through it Synonyms col, couloir, defile, flume, gap, gill [British], gorge, gulch, canyon, kloof [South African], linn [chiefly Scottish], notch, pass, ravine, saddleRelated Words abyss, chasm, cirque, cleft, crevasse, crevice, cwm [chiefly British], fissure; combe (also coombe or coomb) [British], dale, dell, glen, hollow, shut-in, vale, valley; basin, floodplain, kettle; arroyo, barranca (also barranco), coulee, draw, gully (also gulley), gutter, nullah, trench, trough, wadi, wash [West]

4 an open space in a barrier (as a wall or hedge) a wide gulf in the defensive wall meant the city was in grave danger Synonyms breach, break, discontinuity, gap, hiatus, hole, interstice, interval, opening, rent, rift, separation, voidRelated Words chink, cleft, crack, cranny, crevice, fissure; notch, slit, slot, split; interspace, pore; abyss, aperture, cavity, chasm, gape, orifice; fracture, rupture, severance, sundering

5 water moving rapidly in a circle with a hollow in the center the doomed ship was sucked into the gulf and consigned to Davy Jones's locker Synonyms whirlpool, maelstrom, vortexRelated Words tourbillion (or tourbillon); eddy, swirl, whirl