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gulf

noun

Synonyms and Antonyms of 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 of gulf

arm, bay, bight, cove, creek [chiefly British], embayment, estuary, firth, fjord (also fiord), inlet, loch [Scottish]
Words Related to gulf

harbor, port, road(s), roadstead

narrow, sound, strait

bayou

backwater, slough (also slew)

2 an immeasurable depth or space

  • the gulf of understanding between the two men was too wide for them to ever get along
Synonyms of gulf

abysm, abyss, chasm, deep, ocean
Words Related to gulf

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 of gulf

canyon (also cañon), col, couloir, defile, flume, gap, gill [British], gorge, gulch, kloof [South African], linn [chiefly Scottish], notch, pass, ravine, saddle
Words Related to gulf

abyss, chasm, cirque, cleft, crevasse, crevice, cwm [chiefly British], fissure

combe (also coombe) [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 of gulf

breach, break, discontinuity, gap, hiatus, hole, interstice, interval, opening, rent, rift, separation, void
Words Related to gulf

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 of gulf

maelstrom, vortex, whirlpool
Words Related to gulf

tourbillion (or tourbillon)

eddy, swirl, whirl

gulf

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of gulf

to cover with a flood

  • with the administration gulfed by so many real problems, it's absurd for the president to concern himself with this nonissue
Synonyms of gulf

deluge, drown, engulf, flood, inundate, overflow, overwhelm, submerge, submerse, swamp
Words Related to gulf

avalanche, smother

overcome, overrun

flow, flush, gush, pour, sluice, spout, spurt, stream

douse (also dowse), drench, soak, wet
Near Antonyms of gulf

dehydrate, dry, parch
Antonyms of gulf

drain

Learn More about gulf

  1. See words that rhyme with gulf Dictionary: Definition of gulf Spanish Central: Translation of gulf Nglish: Translation of gulf for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of gulf for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about gulf

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