abysmal

English

Etymology

abysm +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈbɪz.məl/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪzməl

Adjective

abysmal (comparative more abysmal, superlative most abysmal)

1. (now rare) Pertaining to, or resembling an abyss.

   Synonyms: unending, profound, fathomless, immeasurable

   • 1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, , →OCLC:

     The latter gives one the same sort of bewildering view of the abysmal extent of Time that Astronomy does of Space.

2. (figurative) extremely bad; terrible.
   • 2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Robben curled an effort against the foot of the post from the edge of the box after being gifted the ball by an abysmal clearance from keeper Stephan Andersen.

Collocations

Translations

References

Further reading

• “abysmal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “abysmal”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• balsamy

Portuguese

Adjective

abysmal m or f (plural abysmaes)

1. Obsolete spelling of abismal