1
as in bay
a part of a body of water that extends beyond the general shoreline
we dipped our feet in the warm waters of the gulf
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2
as in abyss
an immeasurable depth or space
the gulf of understanding between the two men was too wide for them to ever get along
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3
as in canyon
a narrow opening between hillsides or mountains that can be used for passage
the gulf was too wide to cross, so we had to hike down into it and go through it
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4
as in gap
an open space in a barrier (as a wall or hedge)
a wide gulf in the defensive wall meant the city was in grave danger
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as in to flood
to cover with a flood
with the administration gulfed by so many real problems, it's absurd for the president to concern himself with this nonissue
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of gulf
Tristan Bove, Fortune, 23 Jan. 2026
Though things definitely look hairy in Minnesota, a significant gulf remains between non-cooperation and armed resistance from municipal and state service members.
—Joe Wilkins Published Jan 22, Futurism, 22 Jan. 2026
Ferris Jabr, Smithsonian, 8 Jan. 2018
Read More: Gulf Spat Escalates as Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. Media Attack Qatar
Institutional and individual investors from the GCC sold 34.6 million riyals ($9.5 million) of Qatari stocks on Monday, the most in a single trading session since March 21.
—Glen Carey, Bloomberg.com, 30 May 2017
See All Example Sentences for gulf
Noun
Between the jobs set to benefit from AI and those that risk disappearing, lies a vast gulf of positions that will only be partially affected or not at all.
—Tristan Bove, Fortune, 23 Jan. 2026
Though things definitely look hairy in Minnesota, a significant gulf remains between non-cooperation and armed resistance from municipal and state service members.
—Joe Wilkins Published Jan 22, Futurism, 22 Jan. 2026
Verb
So many gulfs separate us now: geographical, anatomical, psychological.
—Ferris Jabr, Smithsonian, 8 Jan. 2018
Read More: Gulf Spat Escalates as Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. Media Attack Qatar
Institutional and individual investors from the GCC sold 34.6 million riyals ($9.5 million) of Qatari stocks on Monday, the most in a single trading session since March 21.
—Glen Carey, Bloomberg.com, 30 May 2017
See All Example Sentences for gulf
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gulf
Noun
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The rain moved into the region closer to San Francisco, including some areas in the East and South bays, in the afternoon, Murdock said.—
Rick Hurd,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
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While social media debates whether their name is pronounced bet-tuh or bay-tuh, veterinarians tend to be more concerned with how they’re cared for than how they’re named.—
Sierra Leone Starks,
Parents,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Darnold, still just 28, is back from the abyss and ascending.—
Jerry Brewer,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
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An existentialist peers into the abyss and feels a shiver of possibility, the freedom to be anything.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Each must traverse more than a mile-and-a-half of terrain, through a canyon, into shadows and out, over rolls that hurl the body half a football field through the air before thudding it back down again.—
Barry Svrluga,
Washington Post,
8 Feb. 2026
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But the geographical distance is small compared to the geopolitical canyon the Games hope to bridge.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Engineers have struggled to close the reaction gap between human perception and machine processing without sacrificing accuracy.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Feb. 2026
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There’s a dusty cloud surrounding the central, contracting star, and that cloud is strongly suspected to be disk-like, with outflows and gaps in the dust in the two directions perpendicular to the disk.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The rapid warming of the Arctic may be making such weakening of the polar vortex more common, but researchers aren’t yet sure.—
Andrea Thompson,
Scientific American,
9 Feb. 2026
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Recent weather extremes in the South and East are examples of what global warming can cause — a warmer Arctic that disrupts the polar vortex and pushes cold weather and snow farther south.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Khanna said his office had been flooded with calls and emails as the mixed messaging left many local residents fearful.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Thousands of people and cars will undoubtedly flood the streets, but the self-driving car company has projected confidence.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Built in the estuary of what was once the River Kaystros, near the Aegean coast, Ephesus thrived as a trading hub connecting east and west.—
Maureen O'Hare,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026
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Three men, all 22 years old, fell through the ice into the estuary’s frigid waters off Norton Drive and Bayswater Ave.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Contact tracing and the daily testing of ocean water quality could slow down.—
Rebecca Ellis,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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As salt crusts form on the elevated end, the shifting weight causes the device to rock like a seesaw, submerging the buildup so the ocean can naturally wash it away.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gulf.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gulf. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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