Meanings
nounabyssal plain (plural abyssal plains)
plural abyssal plains
- geographyA large expanse of very flat and smooth ocean floor, usually found at depths of 4,600 to 5,500 meters (15,000 to 18,000 feet).
Innocuous as it sounds, this note was a starting gun for a resource race on the planet’s last vast frontier: the abyssal plains that stretch between continental shelves deep below the oceans.
2021 September 27, Jonathan Watts, “Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea”, in The Guardian
Translations
Catalan plana abissal
- plana abissalexpanse of flat ocean floor
Finnish syvänmeren tasanko
- syvänmeren tasankoexpanse of flat ocean floor
Hungarian abisszikus síkság
- abisszikus síkságexpanse of flat ocean floor
Irish má aibhéiseach
- má aibhéiseachexpanse of flat ocean floor
Portuguese planície abissal
- planície abissalexpanse of flat ocean floor
Cite this entry
APA
abyssal plain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abyssal%20plain
MLA
“abyssal plain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abyssal%20plain. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “abyssal plain,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abyssal%20plain.
Source: abyssal plain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.