abysso-, abyss-, abys-
(Greek > Latin: Greek [abussoz], a-, "no" plus bussos, "bottom" through Latin [abyssus], "no bottom, bottomless")
At the bottom of modern man there is always a great thirst for self-forgetfulness, self-distraction; and therefore he turns away from all those problems and abysses which might recall to him his own nothingness.
2. Anything too deep for measurement: The well in the garden was an abysm because Daryl was unable to determine how deep it was.
3. An immeasurably profound depth or void: Verna's heart felt like an abysm or a bottomless pit of sadness after her boyfriend left her for another relationship.
2. Incapable of being measured or even understood; incomprehensible, inscrutable: Kristy felt like an abysmal failure because she couldn't remember how to spell the key word in the spelling contest.
3. Etymology: from the year 1656, formed in English from obsolete abysm, "bottomless gulf, greatest depths"; from Old French abisme, from Vulgar Latin abyssimus.
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2. Anything too deep or too great to be measured; lowest depth: Melody's heart felt like an abyss of despair after she received the e-mail.
3. An immeasurably deep chasm, depth, or void: The canyon was described as an abyss because it was almost impossible to see its bottom.
4. The primeval chaos out of which it was believed that the earth and sky were formed: The film portrayed the abyss out of which the formation of the earth and solar system was supposed to have taken place.
5. The abode of evil spirits; thought of as a bottomless pit: Hugh's anguished soul descended into the abyss of hell.
Strictly speaking, the abyss is a particular zone extending between 3,000 and 6,000 meters (9,840 and 19,680 feet at 3.28 feet per meter) in depth. By extension, the abyss is also used to designate deep oceans everywhere.
2. In oceanography, of or relating to the deepest regions of the sea and to the organisms inhabiting that environment at depths between 4,000 and 6,000 meters (13,123 feet and 19,685 feet): The abyssal fishes appeared to be blind because there was no light where they lived.
2. Descriptive of an organism living on or in the ocean floor in the great depths of the oceans or lakes into which light does not penetrate; commonly used in oceanography of depths between 4,000 and 6,000 meters (13,123 and 19,685 feet): The fish that was discovered recently was an example of an abyssobenthonic creature.
The term abyssolith is part of the vocabulary used in the science of petrology.
2. Of or relating to organisms or phenomena in midwater, but still at great depths: At the abyssopelagic deepness of the sea, many of the creatures are blind.
2. Designating a rock in texture that is intermediate between plutonites (a deep-seated rock) and extrusive rocks (forced out at the surface) which are usually formed at moderate distances below the surface: The term hypabyssal is part of the vocabulary used in the science of petrology.
The survey of the ocean floor indicated an extensive layer of hypabyssal hard consolidated mineral matter on the bottom.
Inter-related cross references, directly or indirectly, involving the "sea" and the "ocean" bodies of water: Atlantic; batho-, bathy- (depth); bentho- (deep, depth); halio-, halo- (salt or "the sea"); mare, mari- (sea); necto-, nekto- (swimming); oceano-; pelago- (sea, ocean); plankto- (drifting); thalasso- (sea, ocean).