Abyssal

//əˈbɪs.l̩// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable. archaic, not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of or belonging to the ocean depths, especially below 2000 metres (6500 ft): abyssal zone. not-comparable

    "This "abyssal" life, typically in the form of strange tube-worms and microbes, is almost completely unknown to science."

  3. 3
    Pertaining to or occurring at excessive depths in the earth's crust; plutonic. not-comparable
  4. 4
    In the utter depths of despair; gloomy. figuratively, not-comparable

    "In an attempt to avoid sliding into incorrigible despair, I abandon such abyssal and existential pondering and investigate the artist behind the work."

Adjective
  1. 1
    resembling an abyss in depth; so deep as to be unmeasurable wordnet
  2. 2
    relating to ocean depths from 2000 to 5000 meters wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abysmalabysmalbottomlesscavernousdeepdeep sea

Example

More examples

"In a study published Tuesday, Japanese and American scientists described what they found in sediment samples taken from a flat, wide area 3.7 kilometers to 5.7 kilometers below the ocean’s surface, known as an abyssal plain."

Etymology

First attested in the 1690s. From Medieval Latin abyssalis, from Latin abyssus (“abyss”) + -alis (“-al”). Equivalent to abyss + -al.

Related phrases

abyssal blueabyssal fishabyssal plainabyssal rockabyssal zoneabyssal zone

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.