Crevasse

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æs
• IPA: /ˈkɹɛ.vÉ™s/, /kɹəˈvæːs/

Origin

From French crevasse.

Full definition of crevasse

Noun

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.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To form crevasses.----