English

Adjective

abysmal ‎(comparative more abysmal, superlative most abysmal)

1. (now rare) Pertaining to, or resembling an abyss; unending; profound; fathomless; immeasurable. [First attested in the mid 17^th century.]^[1]
   • (Can we date this quote?), Carlyle, (Please provide the title of the work):

     Geology gives one the same abysmal extent of time that astronomy does of space. [First attested in the early 19^th century.]^[1]

2. (figuratively) Bottomless; extremely bad.
   • 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.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "abysmal" is often applied: ignorance, record, performance, poverty, conditions, quality, perplexity, result, and failure.

Translations

References

1. 1 2 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 11

Portuguese

Adjective

abysmal ‎(plural abysmaes, comparable)

1. Obsolete spelling of abismal