abysm
Immeasurably deep gulf
Abysm is an archaic or literary word for abyss—a bottomless chasm or void.
It appears most famously in Shakespeare's *The Tempest*, where Prospero speaks of "the dark backward and abysm of time." Modern writers occasionally revive it for poetic effect, but abyss has largely replaced it in ordinary use.
Deep, steep-sided gap
- voidWithout legal effect
- gulfPartially enclosed sea
- pitFruit's hard seed
- fathomlessImmeasurably deep or obscure
bottomless · depths · yawning · plunge · canyon · crevasse · gorge · unfathomable
Without legal effect
- nothingnessComplete absence of existence
- emptinessAbsence of substance
- despairTotal absence of hope
- oblivionComplete erasure from memory
darkness · infinite · terror · unknown · dread · nihilism · meaninglessness · isolation
Belonging to earlier times
- poeticOf or like verse
- SpenserianOf the Faerie Queene author
- sublimeAwe-inspiring greatness
- grandeurImpressive splendor and scale
epic · romanticism · verse · antiquated · eloquence · dramatic · evocative · rhetorical
chasm
Deep, steep-sided gap
fathomless · bottomless · depths · yawning · plunge · canyon · crevasse · gorge · unfathomable · precipice
void
Without legal effect
- nothingnessComplete absence of existence
- emptinessAbsence of substance
- despairTotal absence of hope
oblivion · darkness · infinite · terror · unknown · dread · nihilism · meaninglessness · isolation · hopelessness
archaic
Belonging to earlier times
- poeticOf or like verse
- SpenserianOf the Faerie Queene author
- sublimeAwe-inspiring greatness
grandeur · epic · romanticism · verse · antiquated · eloquence · dramatic · evocative · rhetorical · metaphor
- fiery abyssBlazing, bottomless void
- The AbyssImmeasurably deep void
- spiritual abyssDeep emptiness of soul
- abyssal depthsDeepest oceanic regions