crevasse

See also crevice

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From French crevasse.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æs
• IPA: /ˈkɹɛ.vəs/, /kɹəˈvæːs/

Noun

crevasse (plural crevasses)

1. (literally) A crack or fissure in a glacier or snow field; a chasm.
2. (figuratively) A discontinuity or “gap” between the accounted variables and an observed outcome.
   • 1954: Gilbert Ryle, Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953, dilemma vii: Perception, page 105 (The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press)

     [… H]e laments that he can find no physiological phenomenon answering to his subject’s winning a race, or losing it. Between his terminal output of energy and his victory or defeat there is a mysterious crevasse. Physiology is baffled.

Translations

a crack or fissure in a glacier or snow field

Aragonese: crepaza (an), crebaza (an) Finnish: railo (fi), halkeama (fi) French: crevasse (fr) f. German: Gletscherspalte (de) f.

Indonesian: jurang es Italian: crepaccio (it) Norwegian: bre (no) m., isbre (no) m. Romanian: crevasă (ro) f., crăpătură (ro) f.

an unexplained gap between variables and outcomes

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /kʀɘ.vas/

Etymology 1

Old French crevace, crever +‎ -asse

Noun

crevasse f. (plural crevasses)

1. crevasse

Etymology 2

Inflected forms

Verb

crevasse

1. first-person singular imperfect subjunctive form of crever.