- [countable] a large area of sea that is partly surrounded by land
- the Gulf of Mexico
- the Gulf[singular] the Persian Gulf, the area of sea between the Arabian peninsula and Iran
- [countable, usually singular] gulf (between A and B) a large difference between two people or groups in the way that they think, live or feel
- The gulf between rich and poor is enormous.
- It felt as if a gulf had opened up between his life and mine.
Extra Examples- A gulf of mistrust still exists between them.
- For many teachers, there existed an unbridgeable gulf between home and school life.
- Other factors widened the gulf that separated rich from poor.
- There appeared to be a growing gulf between the prosperous south and the declining towns of the north.
- This atrocity has created a huge gulf between the two groups.
- the huge gulf in level between professional and amateur teams
- the ideological gulf that separated the two branches of the movement
- the yawning gulf that separates the two cultures
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- deep
- enormous
- …
- create
- widen
- emphasize
- …
- exist
- divide somebody/something
- separate somebody/something
- …
- gulf between
- gulf in
- gulf of
- …
- [countable] a wide deep opening in the ground
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French golfe, from Italian golfo, based on Greek kolpos ‘bosom, gulf’.
Idioms
See gulf in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarybridge the gap/gulf/divide (between A and B)
- to reduce or get rid of the differences that exist between two things or groups of people
- The new degree course aims to bridge the gulf between education and industry.
Check pronunciation:
gulf