gulf

/gəlf/

/gəlf/

Other forms: gulfs

Deep, wide and often filled with water, a gulf is any vast and seemingly unbridgeable area.

You've probably heard of the Gulf of Mexico, that large body of water that's partly surrounded by land. But a gulf doesn't have to be all about the ocean. If two people have vastly different cultures or opinions, you could say that there's a gulf between them — a large divide that neither side is willing or able to cross.

Definitions of gulf

1. noun

   an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land; larger than a bay
   examples:

   Gulf of Aden

   arm of the Indian Ocean at the entrance to the Red Sea

   Gulf of Alaska

   a gulf of the Pacific Ocean between the Alaska Peninsula and the Alexander Archipelago

   Gulf of Antalya

   a gulf of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Turkey

   Gulf of Akaba

   a northeastern arm of the Red Sea; between the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) and Saudi Arabia

   Gulf of Bothnia

   a northern arm of the Baltic Sea; between Sweden and Finland

   Gulf of California

   a gulf to the west of the mainland of Mexico

   Golfo de Campeche

   a part of the Gulf of Mexico to the west of Yucatan

   Gulf of Carpentaria

   a wide shallow inlet of the Arafura Sea in northern Australia

   Gulf of Corinth

   inlet of the Ionian Sea between central Greece and the Peloponnesus

   Gulf of Finland

   an eastern arm of the Baltic Sea; between Finland and Estonia

   Gulf of Guinea

   a gulf off the southwest coast of Africa

   Gulf of Martaban

   an arm of the Andaman Sea off southern Myanmar

   Golfo de Mexico

   an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of Mexico

   Gulf of Ob

   an inlet of the Kara Sea in western Siberia

   Gulf of Oman

   an arm of the Arabian Sea connecting it with the Persian Gulf

   Gulf of Riga

   an inlet of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia

   Gulf of Saint Lawrence

   an arm of the northwest Atlantic Ocean off the southeastern coast of Canada

   Gulf of Sidra

   wide inlet of the Mediterranean Sea on the north coast of Libya

   Gulf of Suez

   a northwestern arm of the Red Sea linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal

   Gulf of Tehuantepec

   an arm of the Pacific in southern Mexico

   Gulf of Thailand

   an arm of the South China Sea between Indochina and the Malay Peninsula

   Gulf of Venice

   an arm of the Adriatic Sea

   Arabian Gulf

   a shallow arm of the Arabian Sea between Iran and the Arabian peninsula; the Persian Gulf oil fields are among the most productive in the world

   type of:

   body of water, water

   the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean)
2. noun

   a deep wide chasm
   type of:

   chasm

   a deep opening in the earth's surface
3. noun

   an unbridgeable disparity (as from a failure of understanding)
   “he felt a gulf between himself and his former friends”

   synonyms: chasm, disconnect, disconnection

   type of:

   disparity

   inequality or difference in some respect