Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A deep fissure, as in a glacier; a chasm.
  • noun A crack or breach in a dike or levee.
  • intransitive & transitive verb To develop or cause to develop crevasses.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fissure or crack: a term used by English writers in describing glaciers, to designate a rent or fissure in the ice, which may be of greater or less depth, and from an inch or two to many feet in width.
  • noun In the United States, a breach in the embankment or levee of a river, occasioned by the pressure of water, as in the lower Mississippi.
  • To rend, as the surface of a glacier, with fissures and cracks.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A deep crevice or fissure, as in embankment; one of the clefts or fissure by which the mass of a glacier is divided.
  • noun U.S. A breach in the levee or embankment of a river, caused by the pressure of the water, as on the lower Mississippi.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun literally A crack or fissure in a glacier or snow field; a chasm.
  • noun figuratively A discontinuity or “gap” between the accounted variables and an observed outcome.
  • verb intransitive To form crevasses.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a deep fissure

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French crevace, crevice; see crevice.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French crevasse.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word crevasse.

Examples

  • Across the crevasse was a bridge made of ropes, spangled with lights and tied to the crumbling ruins at either end.

    The Demons Covenant Sarah Rees Brennan 2010

  • Across the crevasse was a bridge made of ropes, spangled with lights and tied to the crumbling ruins at either end.

    The Demons Covenant Sarah Rees Brennan 2010

  • The crevasse was a great slit, deep into the standing cliff.

    The Gates of Thorbardin Parkinson, Dan 1990

  • The crevasse was a great slit, deep into the standing cliff.

    The Gates of Thorbardin Parkinson, Dan 1990

  • The crevasse was a great slit, deep into the standing cliff.

    The Gates of Thorbardin Parkinson, Dan 1990

  • On the far brink of the crevasse were the forms of men, who seemed to be waving their arms in the air and shouting.

    The People of the Mist Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • Twice I have owed safety to a snow bridge, and it seems to me that the chance of finding some obstruction or some saving fault in the crevasse is a good one, but I am far from thinking that such a chance can be relied upon, and it would be an awful situation to fall beyond the limits of the

    Scott's Last Expedition Volume I Robert Falcon Scott 1890

  • Scientists have known for years that when the river flows free of its banks, in a phenomenon called a crevasse, land forms.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • Scientists have known for years that when the river flows free of its banks, in a phenomenon called a crevasse, land forms.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

  • Scientists have known for years that when the river flows free of its banks, in a phenomenon called a crevasse, land forms.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.