Extremely bad; appalling; resembling or suggesting an abyss in depth or vastness.
From 'abyss' plus '-mal' (bad), originally meaning 'of or belonging to an abyss.' The word 'abyss' comes from Greek 'abyssos' (bottomless). The meaning shifted from 'bottomlessly deep' to 'bottomlessly bad.'
Picture falling into an abyss — that's how bad abysmal things are! It's not just 'bad' or 'terrible,' it's so awful it's like plunging into a bottomless pit of awfulness. The depth imagery makes the badness feel infinite.
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