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abyss

 [uh-bis]   Example Sentences Origin

a·byss

   [uh-bis]
noun
1.
a deep, immeasurable space, gulf, or cavity; vast chasm.
2.
anything profound, unfathomable, or infinite: the abyss of time.
3.
(in ancient cosmogony)
a.
the primal chaos before Creation.
b.
the infernal regions; hell.
c.
a subterranean ocean.
Origin:
1350–1400; earlier abisse, Middle English abissus < Late Latin abyssus < Greek ábyssos bottomless, equivalent to a- a-6 + byssós bottom of the sea

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Abyss is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
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Example Sentences
  • It is not a gap, it is an abyss.
  • By the end, they had been stomped on by giant robots and kicked into a flaming abyss.
  • These chillingly realized glimpses of the abyss are not for the faint of heart.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

Abyss.

 
1.
Abyssinia.
2.
Abyssinian.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To abyss
Collins
World English Dictionary
abyss (əˈbɪs)
 
—n
1.  a very deep or unfathomable gorge or chasm
2.  anything that appears to be endless or immeasurably deep, such as time, despair, or shame
3.  hell or the infernal regions conceived of as a bottomless pit
 
[C16: via Late Latin from Greek abussos bottomless (as in the phrase abussos limnē bottomless lake), from a-1 + bussos depth]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

abyss
late 14c., earlier abime (c.1300), from L.L. abyssus "bottomless pit," from Gk. abyssos (limne) "bottomless (pool)," from a- "without" (see a- (2)) + byssos "bottom," possibly related to bathos "depth."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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