Word.ws English Dictionary

chasma

Syllables: chas·ma/ˈkazmə/US/ˈkæzmə/

chasma noun: a long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a planet (often other than Earth), a moon, or another body in the Solar System. Also the obsolete form of chasm.

chasma: a long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a planet (often other than Earth), a moon, or another...
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

chasma (plural chasmas or chasmata)

  1. A long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a planet (often other than Earth), a moon, or another body in the Solar System.
    • The most prominent tectonic feature on Tethys is the globe-girdling Ithaca Chasma, which is 60 to 100 km wide, 3–4 km deep, and can be traced through at least 270° of a rough great circle (Smith et al, 1982; Moore & Ahern, 1983). […] Odysseys Tangent Chasma. A prominent chasma 60–80 km wide and at...1991 June 1, Steven K. Croft, “Tethys Geology and Tectonics Revisited”, in Reports of Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program (NASA Technical Memorandum; accession number 92N10765, document ID...
    • Venus shows clear signs of past tectonic activity in the highland regions. The deformational (tectonic) features showing^([sic – meaning show]) the results of both compressional and extensional forces. Rifting of the crust has occurred to produce relatively shallow chasmas and abundant faulting in...2003, David Leverington, “The Space Age – Terrestrial Planets”, in Babylon to Voyager and Beyond: A History of Planetary Astronomy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 398
  2. (obsolete, rare) An aurora.
    • Thus Cornelius Gemma, Professor of Medicine in Louvain, mentions them [the aurora borealis] under the name of chasma, as appearing in Brabant on the 13th February and 28th September, 1575.1814 December, Thomas Thomson, “On the Aurora Borealis”, in Annals of Philosophy; or, Magazine of Chemistry, Mineralogy, Mechanics, Natural History, Agriculure, and the Arts, volume IV, number XXIV...
    • Livy (lib. xxii. cap. 1.) mentions a similar appearance among the prodigies which preceded Hannibal's entrance into Italy in the second Punic War. It was reported, says he, […] that at Falerii the Heaven seemed to be rent with a vast chasm; and that where it was opened, a great light shone forth....1822, Samuel Burder, “St. Luke. iii. 21”, in Oriental Literature, Applied to the Illustration of the Sacred Scriptures; Especially with Reference to Antiquities, Traditions, and Manners; Collected...

Also used as

chasma is also the obsolete form of chasm.

chasma meaning in Indonesian

chasma in Indonesian

long, narrow, steep-sided depression
chasma

Examples of chasma in a sentence

  • A prominent chasma 60–80 km wide and at least 800 km long (90° arc), visible in 80.27, is tangent to the rim of Odysseus, trending about 10° east of north.1991 June 1, Steven K. Croft, “Tethys Geology and Tectonics Revisited”, in Reports of Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program (NASA...
  • Rifting of the crust has occurred to produce relatively shallow chasmas and abundant faulting in the Aphrodite Terra and Beta Regio highlands […]2003, David Leverington, “The Space Age – Terrestrial Planets”, in Babylon to Voyager and Beyond: A History of Planetary Astronomy...
  • We suggest that the method of formation of the elliptical chasmata and the ILDs may be genetically related.2007, Mary G. Chapman, John L. Smellie, “Mars Interior Layered Deposits and Terrestrial Sub-ice Volcanoes Compared: Observations and...
  • The near circular trough of the Artemis chasma [on Venus] has a diameter of 2100 km.2014, Donald L[awson] Turcotte, Gerald Schubert, Geodynamics, 3rd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 83:

Forms of chasma

pluralchasmas
pluralchasmata

Origin of chasma

From Latin chasma, from Ancient Greek χάσμα (khásma, “abyss, cleft”), from Ancient Greek χᾰ́σκω (khắskō, “to gape, yawn”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰan-, *gʰan- (“to gape, yawn”) + -σκω (-skō, inchoative suffix forming a present-tense word), from Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti (suffix forming a durative or iterative imperfective verb); or from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁y- (“to gape, yawn”)) + Ancient Greek -μᾰ (-mă, suffix forming a noun denoting the result of an action) (from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ (suffix forming an action or result noun)). Doublet of chasm. The obsolete “aurora” sense is from the fact that aurorae were thought to be rifts in the sky from which light shone through: see the 1822 quotation.

Words that rhyme with chasma

Questions about chasma

What does chasma mean?
Chasma means a long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a planet (often other than Earth), a moon, or another body in the Solar System.
What is chasma in Indonesian?
Chasma in Indonesian is chasma. See Chasma meaning in Indonesian.
How do you use chasma in a sentence?
A prominent chasma 60–80 km wide and at least 800 km long (90° arc), visible in 80.27, is tangent to the rim of Odysseus, trending about 10° east of north.
What part of speech is chasma?
Chasma is a noun.
How do you pronounce chasma?
Chasma is pronounced /ˈkazmə/ (UK).
What is the plural of chasma?
The plural of chasma is chasmas.

Words near chasma in the dictionary

  1. Chaskhar
  2. Chaski
  3. Chaslyn
  4. chasm
  5. Chasm Creek
  6. chasma
  7. chasmaconitine
  8. chasmal
  9. chasmanine
  10. chasmas
  11. chasmata

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chasma (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-chasma.wav.

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