crevasse

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See also crevice, and crévasse

Contents

English [edit]

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Wikipedia

Etymology [edit]

From French crevasse.

Pronunciation [edit]

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

Noun [edit]

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)
      [] he 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 [edit]

Verb [edit]

crevasse (third-person singular simple present crevasses, present participle crevassing, simple past and past participle crevassed)

  1. (intransitive) To form crevasses.

French [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

Old French crevace, crever +‎ -asse

Noun [edit]

crevasse f (plural crevasses)

  1. crevasse

Etymology 2 [edit]

Inflected forms

Verb [edit]

crevasse

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