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Abysmal vs Lousy - What's the difference?

abysmal | lousy |

As adjectives the difference between abysmal and lousy

is that abysmal is (now|rare) pertaining to, or resembling an abyss; unending; profound; fathomless; immeasurable while lousy is remarkably bad; of poor quality, dirty, or underhanded; mean, contemptible.

abysmal

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (now, rare) Pertaining to, or resembling an abyss; unending; profound; fathomless; immeasurable.
  • * Carlyle
    • Geology gives one the same abysmal extent of time that astronomy does of space.
  • (figurative, colloquial) Bottomless; extremely bad.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012
    • , date=June 9 , author=Owen Phillips , title=Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=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.}}

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "abysmal" is often applied: ignorance, record, performance, poverty, conditions, quality, perplexity, result, and failure.

    References

    External links

    * *

    lousy

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Remarkably bad; of poor quality, dirty, or underhanded; mean, contemptible.
  • * No offense, but your cooking is lousy .
  • Infested with lice.
  • (colloquial) Filled or packed with something.
  • * The place was lousy with students .
  • * She's lousy with credit cards, goes shopping every day!

    • Usage notes

    Prior to World War II, it was an offensive insult, implying filthiness. Now considered a mild or rather dated term.

    Derived terms

    * lousy evil

    Related terms

    * cootie, crab louse, crabs, louse, pubic louse