gulf

gulf, chasm, abysm, abyss basically denote a hollow place of vast width and depth in the earth. Gulf and chasm suggest a depth which, though vast, is still measurable; abysm and abyss suggest immeasurable depth.

Gulf is the most general term and may properly be used of any wide and deep hollow place

{

slippery cliffs arise close to deep gulfs— Bryant

}

In its extended use gulf suggests separation by a great, often unbridgeable distance

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the broad and deep gulf which . . . divides the living from the dead— Inge

}

{

a mere physical gulf they could bridge . . . but the gulf of dislike is impassable and eternal— Shaw

}

Chasm adds the implication of a deep and sometimes wide breach in a formerly solid surface

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the chasm of the Grand Canyon, worn by the Colorado river

}

{

the brink of a precipice, of a chasm in the earth over two hundred feet deep, the sides sheer cliffs— Cather

}

In extended use chasm still stresses a sharp break in continuity

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those chasms of momentary indifference and boredom which gape from time to time between even the most ardent lovers— Huxley

}

Abysm and abyss may designate the bottomless gulf or cavity of ancient cosmogonies and both have been applied to hell when thought of as a bottomless pit; in other applications they usually connote not only fathom- lessness but also darkness and horror.

Abysm is somewhat old-fashioned

{

when my good stars . . . have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires into the abysm of hell— Shak.

}

{

what seest thou else in the dark backward and abysm of time?— Shak.

}

Abyss is commoner in general modern use

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the abyss of Tartarus, fast secured with iron gates— Thirlwall

}

and, like abysm, it carries over into its extended uses the notion of vast, immeasurable void

{

the respectability and prosperity of the propertied and middle classes who grew rich on sweated labor covered an abyss of horror— Shaw

}