abysmal /əˈbɪz.məl/ adjective2 •(figurative) Extremely bad; terrible.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. — 2012 •(no longer used) Pertaining to, or resembling an abyss.The latter [geology] gives one the same sort of bewildering view of the abysmal extent of Time that Astronomy does of Space. — 1851 formsmore abysmal · most abysmal